NCOAE Recommends
The Quintessential Backcountry Expedition Road Trip Playlist
…Choosing the right tunes for your roadtrip is essential! Check out a few favorites from our directors and let us know which ones make it to your playlist!…
International Expeditions
Cape Fear Academy Students Immerse Themselves in Ecuador’s Culture
…Late last year, the staff at Cape Fear Academy in Wilmington, North Carolina, asked for our help in creating a unique and meaningful 10-day, outdoor and adventure-based out-of-country expedition for a handful of its high school students. In particular, Cape Fear’s educational leaders were looking for a diverse destination that would enable their students to…
Outdoor Education
Educating the Educators to Ensure Safe and Satisfying Outdoor Adventure and Educational Experiences
…When planning a backcountry-based experience, you want to be sure that the people leading the outdoor program know their stuff!…
About NCOAE
Zac Adair and Seeing the Backcountry Through a Soda Straw
…It’s been a while since Zac Adair and his wife, Celine, co-founded The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), and while it would be nice to think they jumped into this challenging not-for-profit enterprise with eyes wide open, that wouldn’t be completely accurate. Yes, going into it they had a great game plan….
Adult Courses
The Longer the Course, The Better the Experience
…Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), we offer a wide range of outdoor education and adventure courses, ranging in length from a week to an entire semester. And what that does is offer our students a choice based on their particular circumstances, interests and needs. By offering dozens of adventures from…
Outdoor Education
Advice: Starting an Outdoor Education or Adventure Program in Your School
Working in outdoor education is incredible rewarding and fulfilling! Learn more about what it takes to get started on your courses today!…
AEE
Working Our Way Toward AEE Accreditation
…There are lots of things that separate the work we do here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) from others who offer outdoor education, wilderness trips and wilderness medical training for youths and adults. For starters, unlike other many other outdoor adventure education providers, we operate using a core curriculum that…
Private and Independent Schools
…Make an impact on your students by bringing an NCOAE program to your private or independent school. Request a custom program today!…
Teen Courses
NCOAE And The 20 Wilderness Areas You Have to See Before You Die
…The Wilderness Society — which is way up there near the top of the list for conservation organizations working to protect our nation’s shared wildlands — recently released its list of 20 wilderness areas to see before you die. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the nation’s Wilderness Act, which protects more than…
Inspiration
Inspiration Through a Journey of Exploration: Part One – Alex Hotchin
…This week we begin the first in a three-part series called “Inspiration Through Exploration” where we will see how gifted and novice travelers alike can document their adventures through artwork, photography, writings and other means. Today’s inspiration comes from Australian Alex Hotchin and her beautiful — and very unique maps. Next week, we will explore…
NCOAE Recommends
Running as Exploration? Re-ignite Your Inner Beginner — Part 2
…Francis Bacon, the Renaissance statesman and philosopher best known for his promotion of the scientific method, is credited with the expression, “Knowledge is power.” But to those of us who prefer to see a world bathed in fresh new adventures, knowledge can actually be a curse. Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure…
Adult Expeditions
…Explore the wilderness — and your own capability to lead, learn, and grow on an NCOAE Adult Expedition. Register for a course today!…
The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) and the University of North Carolina Wilmington Form Academic Relationship
Wilmington, N.C., April 3, 2018 –The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) — a Wilmington-based organization that promotes critical thinking, environmental stewardship, and the acquisition of technical outdoor skills through accredited outdoor and adventure-based experiential education courses — today announced an academic relationship with the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). Beginning summer…
Pacific Northwest
…Rugged, remote, and breathtaking, Oregon’s Cascade Mountains become your classroom on an NCOAE expedition….
Ecuador
…Take the trip of a lifetime to Ecuador with NCOAE. You’ll explore the snow-capped mountains and lush rainforests of “Luz de América.”…
Summer Camp
Exploring 2024 Summer Camp Experiences for Teens
…NCOAE is proud to offer a variety of outdoor expeditions and leadership programs for teens. Learn more about our offerings and upcoming appearances for 2024 here!…
Life At NCOAE
Why You Should Help Support Outdoor Education
…The novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic James Baldwin said it best when he wrote: “We are responsible for the world in which we find ourselves, if only because we are the only sentient force which can change it.” Those words guide us here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE)….
Wildlife
The Three Bears: Part 3 — Decision Time for the Trailbike Rider
…Editor’s Note: Below is final part in Stephen Mullaney’s three-part series of essays about encounters with bears in the backcountry. The first essay in the series recants the shock Stephen experienced with one particular bear encounter, while the second essay in this series attempts to find humor in a persistent bear taking up quarters in an…
Custom Programs
At NCOAE, We Don’t Cut Cookies — We Plan Dreams
…“The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page.” ~ Saint Augustine On those many occasions when schools, clubs, organizations, or companies ask us to come up with an adventure/education excursion for their group, we don’t reach into a cabinet and pull out a cookie-cutter version of a wilderness…
NCOAE Recommends
NCOAE Recommends: Outdoor Films for Thanksgiving Consumption
…For this year, Halloween is history, Thanksgiving looms in the near future, and Christmas is still far enough away that it doesn’t feel like Christmastime — unless you’ve visited the decorated and well-lighted malls and outlet stores over the last month or so. Fortunately, when you tire of planning for family visits and turkey dinner…