Famed 19th century self-promoter Phineas T. Barnum often opined that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. And while that philosophy certainly worked well for the American circus owner, we here at The National Center for Outdoor and Adventure Education (NCOAE) have discovered that a little promotion for a genuinely good cause can go even further.

We scored some valuable press coverage recently, and we weren’t a bit shy about our self-promoting efforts. The result was a seven-minute video-enhanced piece of journalism titled Beyond the Classroom, beautifully produced by EducationNC, an independent source of news, data, and analysis about education for the people of North Carolina. EdNC’s content encourages the public’s participation and leadership on behalf of school children in this state.

With kids’ education top of mind, we reached out to EdNC, suggesting the news organization might want to send a reporter or two to investigate our Education Without Walls program. Education Without Walls is NCOAE’s not-for-profit subsidiary. It is a wilderness-based outdoor education program for teenagers, many of whom — through no fault of their own — live at or below the federal poverty level.

Following a number of phone conversations between our administrators

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Celine Adair, our own co-founder and director of operations, has been recognized with a Women of Achievement Award for her work in social justice, presented earlier this week by the YWCA Lower Cape Fear.

The award ceremony — held each year since 1985 — is the YWCA’s signature fundraiser to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of women and young leaders in southeastern North Carolina. Celine joins more than 300 other women leaders who have achieved this status over the past three-plus decades.

(Caption: Left to right: Dr. C. Sue Combs from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (and herself a 1991 YWCA Women of Achievement Award Winner) poses with NCOAE’s Celine Adair. Photo credit: Terah Wilson / StarNews)

The YWCA organization’s programs and services promote racial justice and gender equity for thousands of women, children and their families in the Lower Cape Fear region, which is home to The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education’s world headquarters. This year, 56 nominees

A North Carolina television news station has run a colorful three-minute segment called “Extraordinary People,” that highlights our very own co-founder and executive director, Zac Adair (video footage from the segment appears at the end of today’s post).

Daniel Seamans, evening anchor correspondent for WWAY TV3, put the cameras on Zac and The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education in the Extraordinary Person of the Week portion of the network affiliate’s evening news. WWAY TV3 is the ABC, CBS and CW-affiliated television station in Wilmington, owned by Morris Network, Inc.

Entitled “Blind Ambition,” the veteran correspondent interviewed Zac as well as a half-dozen students in our Education Without Walls (EWW) program, NCOAE’s year-round adventure education program for highly motivated and ambitious youth who have significant financial needs.

The news station called the segment ‘Blind Ambition” because Zac lost the majority of his sight when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car back in 2003. The accident did little to slow this veteran surfer, whitewater rafting guide, rock climber, and outdoor program visionary and business manager. Today he is totally blind in one eye and has less than 2 percent vision remaining in his other eye.

Nonetheless, on a near-daily basis, you can find Zac in the

It must have been about a year ago that we first wondered aloud if it’d be possible to put our backcountry knowledge and experiences on display for the benefit of the folks in our local community. As a national organization, we tend to think and operate big (visit our website and you’ll find NCOAE courses being offered in destinations like Hawaii, Wyoming and Oregon — all of which are thousands of miles from our world headquarters in Wilmington, N.C.). And the programs we do offer locally… well, they’re expensive and not the type of thing someone just signs up for out of the blue or on a moment’s notice.

Interested though in giving back to the community that has been so great for our nonprofit, we recently approached the good folks over at the Great Outdoor Provisions Co. to see if they’d be interested in having our founders, guides and instructors offer free workshops to their customers at their Wilmington store. After a few conversations about topics, dates and logistics, we got it all worked out.

Starting in January, NCOAE will be presenting the following monthly “Campfire Conversations” — free workshops and talks — at the Great Outdoor Provisions Co. store in Wilmington:

January 5, 2015 (6-8pm)— Understanding Leave No Trace: The Leave No Trace Awareness Workshop
February 2, 2015 (6-8pm)— One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Everything you need to know about choosing women’s outdoor gear
March 9, 2015 (6-8pm) — Cooking In The Backcountry: Tips, tricks and warnings for beginners to sous-chefs
April 6, 2015 (6-8pm) — Backpacking With Kids: How to prepare and pull off a great backcountry experience with your kids
May 2015 (date & time TBA) — Your Weekend Adventure Awaits: Three-day trips that are local, affordable and well within your reach
June 2015 (date & time TBD)— Wilderness Medicine: What you need to know to be safe, confident and helpful in emergency situations in the backcountry