I hope the winter treated you well... Ok... I know the lake froze over... But it will thaw soon
lolI am posting today to ask for your help. I am planning on taking an outward bound instructor course this fall. The tuition is pretty expensive so I'm running a fundraiser to help raise the funds! You can check out my website at http://www.gofundme.com/7rnv6c PLEASE share my story with whoever you would like
http://www.gofundme.com/7rnv6c
Durning this course I hope to gain a level of knowledge and skills that will enable me to feel confident about safely leading others on Wilderness adventures. My intentions are to design a Wilderness program for women to get back in touch with nature and their own feminine strength. The program will be designed towards helping women navigate through the many transitions in their lives by reconnecting them to their lost inner strength that we are all born with. In time I will expand the program to include programs for families, couples etc...With this training I will be able to confidently and SAFELY lead participants of my wilderness program into the "WILD" so they can experience the profound difference reconnecting with Mother Nature will bring to their lives.
I have worked in many different settings and believe that these experiences will be a huge asset to me on this next part of my life's journey. I have been an emergency services dispatcher; which taught me how to think quickly and react appropriately. My years as a volunteer EMT taught me how to be strong and centered in the face of chaos and fear. I've worked within the mental health and vocational rehabilitation fields, which taught me to be open minded and understanding. All of these experiences and many more have been my teaching and leadership experience.
Last summer was a pivotal point for me. My life's purpose began to come into focus, the more open to the rhythms of nature I became. In August 2013, I walked into the wild with my fist fully loaded backpack and didn't come out for two days. A friend and I, neither one of us had ever backpacked before, decided to tackle the Mount Mainsfield section of the long trail for our first backpacking adventure! We had no idea what we were in for! It was truly amazing to feel the transformations that took place within myself during those 42 hours, 23 miles and 10,000+ feet of vertical climb! There were times when I wanted to cry because the trails ahead looked so steep and scary but going back the way I had just came was far more scary to comprehend. So we pushed on and made it to the summit fully intact! We were caught in a freak thunderstorm and had to pitch our tiny tent less then two feet off the trail in the only flat piece of land we could find in the pitch black. The tent pole snapped and the tent itself ended up leaking, but as we sat huddled in our soggy shelter all we could do was laugh and marvel at how brave we felt. We were so unprepared but at the same time ready for anything. There were many of those moments that weekend. It was on that trip, watching the sunrise over Lake Champlain, that the seed was planted deep within me to share that experience with as many people as I can in my lifetime... With this training I will be able to make that dream a reality by making this my career and not just a hobby!
The course tuition is $7,000 with additional travel expenses to get to the training location. The course is a total of 52 days fully immersed in the wilds of Mother Nature so I'm factoring in living expenses for my family while I'm gone as well. Any funds that are raised above and beyond tuition and expenses will be used towards the start up of my wilderness programming.
I'm so excited about this opportunity and I am hopeful to make my dream a reality so I can share this gift with many others!
Thank you in advance for your encouragement and support!!
The full course description is below! It's pretty intense!!
Course Description:
Wilderness Instructor Course is a 50-day intensive practicum designed to prepare you for the exciting world of outdoor leadership and wilderness education. Through training, practice, feedback and reflection, you will gain the teaching and technical skills necessary for working in the field of outdoor education.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The Hurricane Island Outward Bound School has a 50-year history of innovative and life-changing wilderness or adventure education. While all of our gap year and semester offerings provide unparalleled opportunities for skill building and personal growth, the Wilderness Instructor Course is more specialized. You will learn from the experience of the expedition as well as learn the craft of designing an expedition to create a meaningful experience. You need not have previous teaching or leading experience; just a high level of fitness, a dedication to building an expeditionary community, a love of the outdoors and a strong interest in the outdoor classroom.
Throughout the course you will share leadership and teaching opportunities. During moments when you are not in a leadership or teaching role, you will be in a follower/student role. For that reason, your full participation in every activity and every day is essential to the learning of the whole group.
All Wilderness Instructor Course students will:
Engage fully in all aspects of the expedition, including formal lessons, group decisions, skills practice and wilderness living tasks.
Be active drivers for their own learning as well as contributors to the learning of others
Think and act so as to protect and enhance the physical and emotional safety of themselves and others
Students can study abroad and get college credit through this course. Although our semester programs seem different than traditional academic programs, many colleges recognize the value of going on course. Depending on your course you may also be eligible for service credit. We have prepared a packet with guidelines for obtaining credit for college students, but you need to contact the colleges directly. Up to 12 credits are offered through Western State College, and Northland College. Click here for more information.
Sailing
Section I: Immersion (14-16 days)
Your course will begin at Hurricane Island Outward Bound’s Sea Program basecamp located at Wheeler Bay in Spruce Head, Maine. Here you will meet your watch mates and begin your journey along the Maine Coast. Why start with sailing, you might ask, when many wilderness and adventure programs don’t have sailboats? We start with sailing because it’s the perfect place to start and a unique opportunity. In fact, it’s where Outward Bound and the wilderness education movement started. Our traditional 30-foot sailboats encourage teamwork and leadership like no other classroom. On an open boat with no cabin and no engine, you will live closely together using only wind and oars as propulsion. As you rotate responsibilities during this expedition, you will learn the crafts of sailing, navigating, rowing and living aboard a small open boat. At night, you sleep on deck under a tarp, taking turns at anchor watch under brilliant night skies.
As your group learns to operate as a cohesive crew, you will have many opportunities to explore the infinite facets of wilderness leadership, judgment and decision-making. The last section of the sailing phase will provide you with your first opportunity to put these and your new technical skills to the test: your instructors will remove themselves from all routine decision making and you and your crew will take on the responsibilities of the expedition for yourselves.
Skills you will learn include:
Sailing and seamanship
Weather observation and prediction
Tides and currents
Rowing
Anchoring
Marlinespike seamanship
Coastal piloting and navigation
Coastal cruising and live aboard skills
Canoeing & Backpacking
Section II: Skill Building and Risk Management (18-22 days)
Living and traveling with just what you can carry on your back or in a canoe is a simple existence, in which small choices can make deceptively great differences. So it is with teaching and risk management.
Wilderness canoe expedition skills are essential to the outdoor educator. Your wilderness classroom will be the Penobscot, Kennebec or Allagash watershed(s) in Maine’s Northwoods, the land that Thoreau immortalized in The Maine Woods. On the waterways of this five million acre forest, you will practice paddle strokes and precise maneuvering. You will also learn the skills of portaging (carrying the canoe on your shoulders), and lining (guiding your canoe down unrunnable rapids) as you travel through some of the amazing waterways of Maine. In learning to work and communicate well with your paddling partner each day you will discover the power of two people truly working together
Backpacking is a great combination of team and individual elements. In the mountains, you will learn map reading, cooking, how to pack and adjust your pack, foot care, hydration, knots, and navigation on- and off-trail. The mountains of Maine and northern New Hampshire are rugged, wooded, at times muddy and steep, with bold granite summits and views that stretch to the horizon.
Rock climbing sessions take place at the many granite crags and cliffs that make northern New England a world renowned climbing destination. You will learn how to properly use harnesses, helmets, ropes, belay devices, slings, cams, and nuts. You will start with the basics of tying in to the rope and safely belaying each other, and practice efficient movement over rock using techniques of friction, edging and crack climbing. As you build experience and skill you will develop more advanced climbing techniques and practice setting up and managing a variety of sites.
To live well in the backcountry, all group members must share the chores that turn a camp into a home, including setting up tents and tarps, making a kitchen area, taking a turn fetching water, and cooking satisfying meals.
This phase focuses on essential wilderness leadership skills and includes:
Expedition planning
Backcountry baking
Tandem open boat whitewater canoeing
River site management
Leave No Trace wilderness ethics
On- and off-trail map and compass navigation
Rock climbing skills and site management
Ropes course management (time and course itinerary allowing)
Solo (individual reflection time)
Backcountry Medicine
Section III: Wilderness First Responder (8-9 days)
Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification is recognized as the standard level of expertise in backcountry first aid. This nationally recognized program trains participants to respond to emergencies in remote settings. The 80-hour curriculum includes standards for extended care situations. Half of your time will be spent completing practical skills, case studies and scenarios designed to challenge your decision-making abilities.
In this phase of the course, you will develop the following skills:
Patient assessment
Knowledge of body systems
Equipment improvisation
Trauma
Environmental medicine
Toxins
Wilderness protocols
Wilderness rescue
Final
Section IV: Final Expedition/Assessment (4-6 days)
In small groups, you will test your leadership and technical skills by taking on all of the challenges and rewards that are a part of planning and executing a successful final wilderness expedition. This will enable your instructors to fully evaluation your current level of achievement and work with you to create a customized development plan to further your personal and career goals.
http://www.gofundme.com/7rnv6c