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…

…Camp L.E.A.D. (Learn. Explore. Adventure. Discover.) is a dynamic weeklong summer day camp for 8–11-year-olds, hosted by The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE)….

Empowering local teens with experiential leadership—right here at the coast Camp LEAD from the National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) delivers a proven, research-informed leadership curriculum for New Hanover County teens. Blending outdoor challenges with social-emotional learning, Camp LEAD helps students build confidence, teamwork, and decision-making skills they can apply at school, at…

Working in outdoor education is incredible rewarding and fulfilling! Learn more about what it takes to get started on your courses today!…

…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…

…Covered in mud, we return to the sterile walls of the school. Nearby, students and teachers stop and stare at us. We say nothing. We keep moving, exhausted from our time spent in the wilderness, observing, interacting, developing skills to survive, absorbing information and processing the incredible time we had spent as a group. What…

…There is no shortage of wilderness medicine education providers in this country. From organizations that offer education and training for Wilderness First Responder (WFR) and Wilderness First Aid (WFA) certifications to those that offer train-the-trainer programs, a simple online search reveals a ton of options — especially when the search is focused on a specific…

…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)….

…Learn about what a typical day could look like on an NCOAE expedition. Start your adventure with us today….

…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…

…One thing we don’t do here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education is work within a vacuum. We depend heavily upon many organizations that went before us or that help us realize our mission and full potential. Today, we’d like to shine the light on one of those groups that works behind…

NCOAE Wilderness Medicine Field Guide Resources…

NCOAE offers select high school credits through Blueprint Education, an accredited distance learning school for grades 8 through 12….

…In the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, we discuss the integral role EMT professionals play in supporting communities after natural disasters….

…Thinking about upgrading your outdoor adventure gear for 2024? Check our our improvement guide to help you decide what to keep and what to retire!…

…A little more than three decades ago, two educators and researchers from Canada partnered with the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) on a groundbreaking book titled Safety Practices in Adventure Programming.  Simon Priest, Ph.D., and Tim Dixon, M.Ed., regarded at the time as among only a handful of leading experts in outdoor adventure education and…

…On a recent early morning bike ride along some local wooded trails, I happen to stumble upon the greatest of beginners: a group of children playing with rocks, moss, and whatever “loose parts” they could lay their hands on. I smile and ride right past them, unwilling to break the spell. But then I spot…

…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…

…“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…

…Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE) you can find us toiling year-round to bring our students and clients the very best in guided outdoor adventures with meaning. So, as far as our staff is concerned, we’re always in the “getting ready mode” for outings in the wilderness. But as we…