The Curriculum

Technical Outdoor Skills

Essential outdoor skills needed for camping, day hiking, and backpacking. Participants will be trained on how to plan and lead outdoor trips, manage safety, navigate terrain, and handle basic first aid. Educators will learn to lead these activities with youth in a way that emphasizes both safety and fun, ensuring that participants are well-prepared for outdoor adventures.

Social-Emotional Learning

Focuses on interpersonal communication, group dynamics, and conflict resolution in outdoor settings. Educators will be guided through strategies for fostering cooperation, trust, and effective leadership in groups. They will also explore how outdoor experiences can be used to develop emotional resilience, teamwork, and problem-solving skills among youth.

history of public lands

Essential context for engaging youth from historically excluded communities. Educators will learn about the exclusionary policies that have shaped access to public lands and how these histories have impacted the relationship between marginalized communities and nature. By understanding these histories, educators become better equipped to facilitate more inclusive and culturally sensitive outdoor experiences for youth.