Life on Campus Building a Strong Academic Foundation During the NCOAE Summer Semester, life on campus offers students a structured environment where they engage in a rigorous Honors-level Natural Science and Principles of Leadership curriculum. Here, students have access to classroom resources, labs, and expert instructors, allowing them to dive deep into advanced scientific topics….

…According to research we’ve recently discovered, children ages 8–18 now spend seven-and-a-half hours a day, seven days a week, using screens outside of the classroom. Those ages 12–17 use their phones to text message on a daily basis more than any other form of communication, including face-to-face interactions with peers, parents and others in their…

…Well, it’s official. We’ve just wrapped up and put a bow around another successful season of adventure-based programming in the Pacific Northwest, with all of our expeditions originated from our base of operations in Maupin, Ore., alongside the wild and scenic Deschutes River. And, of course, we here at The National Center for Outdoor &…

…Education Without Walls is a not-for-profit organization established by NCOAE to provide scholarships for students in financial need….

…What is Leave No Trace? The idea behind Leave No Trace is to embrace specific wilderness stewardship values in order to protect our backcountry areas for generations to come. Back in the early 1940s, Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the world Scouting movement, said, “Try and leave the world a little better than you found it.”…

…A native of Wilmington, N.C., Erin Sasser is a seven-year veteran of the Novant-NewHanover emergency medical services team, and an EMT instructor at The NationalCenter for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) since 2022. Erin joined NCOAE for the opportunity to teach emergency medicine to students fromall over the country. She is most interested in how…

…A few years ago, we ran a three-part series on slogans, slang, and terminology as it applies to a trio of human-powered outdoor recreational activities. If you recall, we started out with some “gnarly” surfing terms, then we “tied in” to a conversation about climbing, finally pulling a “wet exit” on the language of paddling….

…It may surprise you to learn that drownings — along with heart attacks and falls — are among the leading causes of death for those who venture into the wilderness for recreation or education in the United States. Statistics show that there are nearly 4,000 fatal drownings each year in the United States, with a…

…I grew up in the Midwest, and while some may claim the flatlands don’t have much to offer — I often found one way or another to get into trouble. I climbed trees in my front lawn, jumping off one branch, and climbing higher. While learning how to ride a bike, I often showed up…

…Hypothermia is deadly. There, I said it! This potentially dangerous drop in body temperature is commonly defined as a core body temperature below 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) after dropping from a healthy temperature of about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 37 degrees Celsius. The slightest variance from the “normal” range can disrupt the body’s…

Chris vanBrenk is an EMS instructor at NCOAE, where he oversees emergency room clinical rotations for our EMS students at several hospitals….

It’s pretty well known that we here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) are experts when it comes to training our Knowledge is the key to successful actions in a medical emergency, whether that be on the side of a city street or in a remote wilderness setting….

…Wilmington’s National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education teaches young people leadership, self-reliance. SNOWS CUT — Bouncing between homes for much of his childhood, 16-year-old Quenton Bowman used to have a hard time trusting people. Then he went outside. Bowman is one of 800 New Hanover County students served over the past decade by the…

The headquarters of the National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) is right here in Wilmington, North Carolina. There are various programs and courses available for people who want to experience the wilderness – including Education Without Walls for chronically homeless / impoverished youth. Support for the program comes through volunteers, gifts-in-kind, and underwriting…

WILMINGTON — Nine Wilmington-area teens from chronically homeless families just spent three weeks calling Alaska home. The trip was organized by the National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), a Wilmington-based non-profit in the same vein of NOLS or Outward Bound. Largely funded by a $25,000 Challenge Cost Share Program Grant from the National…

…This summer, ten local teens will fly to Alaska, take a small plane into the back country, and spend three weeks hiking and clearing trails. These days, many young people go on similar organized wilderness adventures, but these Wilmington teens are not typical participants. They all have either been identified as “chronically homeless” or they…

…In the world of emergency medical services (EMS), future EMTs and paramedics accept the reality that their immediate future includes hundreds of hours of lectures, extensive bookwork, and plenty of written tests.  Each of these students has an objective in mind for taking EMT training courses, and their reasons are many. Some are looking to…

Wesley is an assistant instructor at NCOAE with experience in backpacking, rock climbing, whitewater canoeing and camp craft….

…Outdoor and adventure-based summer camps for teens provide a life-enriching and world-changing experience for those who participate in them. These experiences, offered by accredited adventure-based experiential and outdoor education providers like The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), offer a unique opportunity for teens to develop personal competencies in the following four areas,…

…In the safety and comfort of the modern world, we often forget that the natural world can be a dangerous, unforgiving, and uncaring place. For many of us who love wilderness and the backcountry, that’s large part of its attraction.  We choose to explore areas where some fear to go,  and we participate in activities…