If you’re interested in advancing your career in outdoor and adventure-based experiential education, you really should attend one of AEE’s 2014 regional conferences. AEE (which stands for Association for Experiential Education) is a professional membership association with roots in adventure education that’s committed to the development, practice, and evaluation of experiential learning in all settings. And the organization’s regional conferences – which take place each spring between March and May – offer truly awesome and exceptional professional development opportunities for outdoor and adventure-based educators.

For those of us who work at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), AEE’s lineup of regional conferences offers us the opportunity to:

• Network with others in our field
• Expand our understanding of topics related to the work we perform
• Stimulate our professional curiosity and programmatic creativity
• See lots of old friends and colleagues
• Make new friends (enough to last a lifetime)

This year, AEE is offering spring conferences in seven geographical regions across the U.S., including:

After recently watching 13-year-old Logan LaPlante discussing his concept of learning during a TEDx (Technology, Entertainment, Design) event in Nevada, our co-founders Zac and Celine Adair jokingly said they want to adopt this self-proclaimed hacker of education.

Young Logan spoke before an audience at the University of Nevada last February, where he discussed the disconnect between education and happiness. The theme of his 11-minute talk – which you can watch via the YouTube embed below – rang true for Zac and Celine, who developed the curriculum here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE). That curriculum, which we’ll be blogging about in the weeks and months to follow, promotes self, community, action and impact for teens and adults alike.

Wearing a ski cap and the confidence of a veteran circuit speaker, this home-taught youngster who is barely a teen-ager, told the TEDx audience that much of what passes for education is oriented toward making a living rather than making a life. Then he asked, “What would happen if we based education on the study and practice of being happy and healthy?”

We couldn’t agree more. In fact, Celine reminds us that NCOAE’s outdoor and adventure education offerings are designed with improvement in self-actualization, decision-making, and esteem, communication, teamwork, civic responsibility and environmental stewardship in mind.

Equally important is the fact that our course participants have the

We’re pleased to announce that The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) has received approval from the State of North Carolina and the North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services to offer an intensive 19-day EMT-Basic training.

And what that means to anyone interested in securing their EMT-Basic credentials is that within three weeks of starting our intensive training, you’ll have the knowledge and experience to successfully pass the National Registry exam as well as North Carolina’s state exam, earning your EMT credentials.

After that, you’ll have the option of staying with us for an additional five days for a practical session and certification of the Wilderness Upgrade. This certifies you as an EMT-B and WEMT from the Wilderness Medicine Training Center.

With your EMT credentials in hand, you’ll have an opportunity to enter a field that the Bureau of Labor Statistics claims is a “growing occupation.” Most certified emergency medical technicians (EMTs) find immediate employment at hospitals and ambulance companies, and many work for police or fire departments, receiving the same benefits as firemen and policemen — including pensions.

The median salary for an EMT is $27,070 per year, with entry-level employees averaging $17,300 and the top 10 percent earning $45,280.

There are three levels of EMT training:

• Basic EMT
• EMT-Advanced
• EMT-Paramedic

Students working toward the Basic EMT (a.k.a. EMT-B) credential here at NCOAE study patient assessment, the principals of pharmacology, BLS resuscitation, and participate in