From backpacking and whitewater rafting in India to spelunking through caves in New Mexico, students have options to learn all over the world through National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) expeditions. NOLS held an information table outside of Paresky Commons during dinner last Tuesday and hosted a presentation on their programs at the Shuman Admission Center later that evening. NOLS offers trips to 19 locations, including the Pacific Northwest, India, Australia, Brazil, the Baja Peninsula, the Yukon Territory of Canada and Norway. Director of Admissions and Financial Aid for NOLS Bruce Palmer said that students attend extended backcountry expeditions, during which instructors teach outdoor skills. He continued, “We focus on helping students develop their leadership skills as well. We do that by putting students in real leadership roles that have responsibility and consequence.” “On a NOLS course, you learn how to keep yourself motivated, motivate other people, communicate effectively, things like that. I think those are all skills that every student needs that round out the academic program that you’re getting [at Andover] which is obviously so good,” continued Palmer. Palmer added that on trips, leaders teach about the environments that students are traveling in. For example, students would learn about glaciology while on a mountaineering course. “[NOLS is] a really extraordinary educational experience, but different, in that it’s in the wilderness, and since I think a lot of students here at Andover are interested in developing leadership skills, I think that this is a different approach to getting that kind of experience,” said Jane Fried, Dean of Admissions and member of the NOLS Board of Trustees. NOLS offers both summer and semester-long programs, which can be taken during a gap year or for college credit. Louisa Chafee ’09 is planning to take a gap year program with NOLS. “It seemed only logical to go to NOLS. They’re the best,” she said. “My goal is to become an instructor for NOLS, so I’m actually meeting with [Fried] on Wednesday, and together we’re going to plan out my gap year, figure out which programs I should do that will help me towards becoming an instructor.” A trip backpacking in Alaska and a sea kayaking course are among Chafee’s top program choices, she said. Fried said, “I’ve always been a big proponent of students at least considering a gap year to do something different, and I think one of the things about NOLS which is really important for students to consider is that you’re learning in a completely different way, in a completely different environment.” Palmer said, “This past year, roughly 20 percent of our semester students fit the profile of a gap-year student, and that’s increased. It used to be that eight or nine years ago it was only about 10 percent of our students, so it’s a growing segment for us.” Hannah Hall ’10 is also considering taking a gap year with NOLS, after a positive experience with NOLS last summer when she took a 28-day expedition in the Teton Valley, Idaho. Hall said, “Even though I’ve done a lot of leadership stuff, [NOLS] was a different kind of experience. Two of the days [of the trip] was a solo, where the kids hiked on our own. There was no one there, we had to guide ourselves, and I was selected as one of the leaders for it… it was just one of the most incredible experiences.” “I haven’t decided yet,” said Hall, in regards to her possible gap year plans. “I was thinking about deferring a year of college and doing a semester in India.” Hall also said that she is planning on taking a NOLS mountaineering course in Alaska this summer. NOLS was founded in 1965 by Paul Petzoldt, a well-known mountaineer who went on the first American expedition of K2, a mountain in the Himalayas. NOLS’s mission is to “be the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve people and the environment,” according to its website. NOLS breaks down its values into six categories: wilderness, education, leadership, safety, community and excellence. Tori McClure, who gave a presentation on her book, A Pearl in the Storm, on Wednesday in Kemper Auditorium is also a NOLS graduate and member of the NOLS Board of Trustees.
