September 2017

North Carolina native Adam Parish hails from a coastal town called Newport that is located about 100 miles northeast of our headquarters in Wilmington. He attends the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, where he is majoring in recreation, sports leadership and tourism management — a degree he expects to pick up next spring.

Prior to accepting an internship position here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), Adam was a marine science technician with the United States Coast Guard. Our newest intern says his favorite pastimes include surfing, hunting, kayaking, and exercising.

As we often do on our blog, today we offer a brief and very informal synopsis of our newest NCOAE staffer. With that being said, and the only serious question posed at the outset of the interview, below are some winsome, hardly worthwhile queries we placed before our new intern. They’re included here mostly for our edification and entertainment, as well as for “look back material” that we can reference when Adam makes it to the big time in the field outdoor- and adventure-based experiential education:

NCOAE: Why did you apply to be an NCOAE recreation intern, and what do you hope to gain from the experience?

Adam Parish: I participated in one of NCOAE’s Wilderness First Aid courses and thought the staff as a whole was great. Individually, they were really knowledgeable, skillful and they created a fun learning atmosphere. I got to know more about the organization and its mission and I felt interning would be a great learning experience. Basically, I hope that by the end of the fall internship I will have expanded my technical wilderness skills and gained valuable hands-on experience in coordinating outdoor adventure education programs.

NCOAE: If you had super power strength, what would it be and why?

Adam: My superpower would be to have super speed. I just think it would be awesome.

NCOAE: What was the last costume you wore?

Adam: I don’t remember the last costume I put on. But I’m old and losing my memory.

NCOAE: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being weirdest, exactly how weird are you and how did you get that way?

Adam: Probably a seven! Who knows how I got to be so weird, but being weird is fun. Besides, what constitutes normal these days?

NCOAE: A penguin walks through the door at NCOAE Headquarters wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he there?

Adam: He says he’s there to hang out with the awesome people who work here.

NCOAE: What do you think about when you’re alone in the wilderness?

Adam: I don’t think. I just kick back and relax!

NCOAE: Finish this sentence: In 10 years from now, I will be…

Adam: I’m planning on enjoying life to the fullest because life is short and that is the only way to live!

For those of us who work day in and day out at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education’s (NCOAE) headquarters in Wilmington, N.C., tropical storms and hurricanes are part of our environment.

Just last year, Hurricane Matthew paid our campus a visit — right in the middle of a three-week campus-based course. But just like the Boy Scouts, we place a great deal of stock in their motto: Be Prepared.

By the time that hurricane came roaring through, we had battened down the hatches at our headquarters facilities and moved everyone enrolled in the three-week training to the Raleigh Durham area where they finished out their course. By communicating that potential change far enough in advance, no one was surprised. Our students finished their certification program on time and were safe in doing so.

And now Hurricane Irma looms on the horizon, threatening to make landfall along our coastline sometime next week. According to the latest National Hurricane Center reports, Florida could face direct impacts, with potential paths for the storms including a move further east to encompass the Carolinas and the East Coast. Mandatory evacuations have already been ordered for the Florida Keys.

Outdoor education programs — especially those accredited by the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) — are well versed on what to do in the case of a backcountry emergency or disaster. But how do you prepare for a natural disaster on your own property?

Below are 14 tips that we undertake and suggest for other outdoor education programs facing a disaster that might affect their properties: (more…)