Wray Brothers Receive NOLS Alumni Service Award

  Jantzen and Dillon Wray

Lander, Wyo. — Bluegrass musicians Jantzen and Dillon Wray don’t just take the lessons of their National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) experience on tour with them. They also share the NOLS message with dedication.

“Throughout their travels, Dillon and Jantzen consistently promote the school—wearing NOLS logos at shows, sporting NOLS hats on their CD cover, splashing NOLS messages on their Facebook page, distributing NOLS materials and even working NOLS into radio interviews,” Alumni Relations Director Rich Brame noted.

As such, NOLS recognized their promotional efforts with its Alumni Service Award Saturday night. Each year, the award is presented to devoted alumni who have served the school in exemplary ways as NOLS pursues its mission to teach leadership, conservation and outdoor skills.

The Wray brothers, who comprise the band Old North State, are 2007 graduates of a NOLS Semester in Baja, Mexico.

“It only took us probably about six months of touring before we realized all the similarities between being on the road as musicians and being on the course as students,” Dillon said.

In addition to noting how beneficial the course was to their touring success, the two alumni representatives take a bold marketing approach, always having a NOLS logo visible when they are on camera and providing NOLS materials at their shows.
“I love NOLS from the bottom of my heart, and I will always, always try and tell people about all the awesome things I got to do on my semester,” Dillon said.

And it appears they do just that—and successfully.

“Their small, diverse and heartfelt advocacy contributes to NOLS’s visibility, brand and ultimate success,” Brame wrote.