Written by instructor, Emma Taylor As Outward Bound instructors, we provide our students with challenges to help them grow resilience and strength to overcome adversity. We teach them compassion and how to find fun in hard times. As we facilitate... READ MORE

By Elizabeth Wallace, Blue Ridge Backpacking, Rock Climbing and Whitewater Canoeing, 2011 Our band of teenagers sat around a camp stove, weary from a day of hiking further than our dirt-encrusted calves wanted to go. The sun had set on... READ MORE

On a sunny day in October, in Blowing Rock, NC, facilitators of Outward Bound Professional (OBP) Program began splitting a large group of coworkers into three smaller groups on the lawn of the town park’s baseball field. From lawyers to IT staff and... READ MORE

When Victoria Forbes-Roberts, the Vice President of Pricing and Revenue Management at Delta Air Lines, was asked to develop a nine-month-long leadership training program for high-performing employees in her division, she knew right away that North Carolina Outward Bound School... READ MORE

Gap Year programs are by no means a new idea. In many countries, it is the norm for students to take a structured break from formal education between high school graduation and a higher degree. These ‘gaps’ are meant to... READ MORE

From Carolina Center for Public Service When Ami Patel ’18, APPLES Service-Learning president, agreed to spend four days in the North Carolina wilderness with fellow Tar Heels during a North Carolina Outward Bound experience, she didn’t realize how much the... READ MORE

By Alumnus Kyle Roncagli, 22-day Blue Ridge Backpacking Course, 2016 During the summer going into my Senior year of high school, I went on a 22-day backpacking course in the Pisgah National Forest with Outward Bound. I went into the... READ MORE

By Nicole Fava, NCOBS Alumna and Associate Director of Marketing, 2015 I have always believed that there is a power to the wilderness. The way the birds chatter and the wind rustles the trees-it gives you pause, it makes you... READ MORE

The Charlotte Observer, June 27, 2014 At the very least, spending time in the wilderness helped Anthony Butler develop a new appreciation for his family, his bed and indoor plumbing. But the Vance High School rising junior is counting on... READ MORE