…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…

…If you’re at all interested in a career in outdoor or adventure education and just don’t know where to start, we’re here to tell you that there are whole slew of outdoor education conferences that you can attend – and other things you can do right now – to improve your chance of being hired…

If you’ve ever heard Led Zeppelin’s 1969 classic “Communication Breakdown,” you know how quickly things can go sideways when people aren’t on the same page.  In this case, the second greatest rock ’n’ roll band of all time (yeah, I said it and we can discuss that issue later) was singing about communication in a…

…If you’re interested in advancing your career in outdoor and adventure-based experiential education, you really should attend one of AEE’s 2014 regional conferences. AEE (which stands for Association for Experiential Education) is a professional membership association with roots in adventure education that’s committed to the development, practice, and evaluation of experiential learning in all settings….

…You sit. The clock is ticking. You hear only the clock. And all the stress and anxiety vanish. Solace. Laughing with friends around a backyard campfire on a Friday night. Distant traffic and an occasional train whistle provide the soundtrack. The weight of the week disappears. Solace. Sitting quietly on a rock on Day 20…

…Here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE), we’re known nationally and around the world for our consistency in producing highly impactful backcountry climbing, backpacking, kayaking and other outdoor adventures of an educational and team-focused nature. Our highly trained and experienced outdoor educators, field guides — along with our wilderness medicine and…

…What you need to know to succeed in an online EMT training course, from The National Center for Outdoor & Adventre Education…

…One of the best parts of an outdoor educator instructor course is when the group of participants comes together — either spontaneously throughout the day, or at the end of a solid day of training — and we all benefit from the unorganized sharing of one’s individual talents and skills. These experiential-based skill-sharing sessions —…

…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…

…The outdoor industry uses the term “shoulder season” to indicate times of the year when we’re less busy. With the exception of the snow sport sector of the industry, for many companies and outdoor outfits, that time starts in October and can stretch all the way to May or early June.  The National Center for…

…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…

…Few things on Earth can match the unsurpassed contentment of sleeping outdoors. “If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night,” Bill Watterson once wrote, “I bet they’d live a lot differently.” Amen to that! The stars above, the clouds floating by like sailing vessels, the trees whispering in the breeze. And, of…

…If one of your goals is to apply to medical school and eventually become a doctor, here are a few of the hurdles you’ll need to jump through. First, you’ll need a four-year Bachelor of Science degree with a minimum 3.0 GPA, a passing score on the MCAT exam, and a few glowing letters of…

…Apparently, I spent three quarters of last year and a quarter of this year mostly sitting on the couch. I held a beverage in one hand, chips, cheese and crackers in the other (and yes, I can hold that much). Adding new meaning to the term “binge-watching,” I viewed dozens of subtitled, multi-season detective series…

“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…

…Becoming a full- or part-time Emergency Medical Technician requires extreme and rigorous training, and it’s not a career choice to be taken lightly. That’s because emergency medical responders encounter patients in life-threatening situations, ranging from traumatic incidences of cardiac arrest and auto accidents, to drownings to drug overdoses. EMS techs like the ones we train…

…If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you may recall that Education Without Walls (EWOW) began more than a decade ago here at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE). Today, EWOW has become a successful organization — a self-sustaining not-for-profit complete with its own administrative staff, board of directors, programs, and…

…How would you like to spend three weeks in windswept Patagonia, summiting a 19,000-foot-high peak in the Andes, taking on Class III and IV rapids alongside a volcano — and picking up six college credits for adding this adventure to your academic experience? The University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW) is offering this 24-day course (EVS…

…Happiness is an inside job. And on the flip side of that coin, depression — a mood disorder — is a condition that also primarily originates from inside our minds. Happiness is an action word. It requires a decision. And happiness does not have to wait. Take the winter months, for example. If you are…

…Depending on where you live, you may see them every day or just when there’s a fire, police, or medical emergency where you are. Regardless of the frequency with which you see them, you may be wondering — what exactly does an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) do? EMTs are not just “ambulance drivers,” although that’s…