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The National Outdoor Leadership School, more commonly known as NOLS, is a non-profit school dedicated to teaching about nature, skills and leadership on month-long expeditions in a wilderness setting. The NOLS mission is to be the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve people and the environment. NOLS runs courses on five continents, and has courses for almost all wilderness environments and for almost any age group. NOLS has trained more than 60,000 students. Most NOLS students earn college credit for their course.
NOLS was founded in 1965 by Paul Petzoldt, a world-famous mountaineer and a member of the Army's 10th Mountain Division. Petzoldt was also an early Outward Bound Chief Instructor.
The first facility opened in Lander, Wyoming, where NOLS is still based today. NOLS also has facilities in Alaska, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India. Initially, NOLS was very military in style - courses were run in "patrols," and standard NOLS gear was army surplus.
However, during the 1970s, NOLS grew enormously and its attitude shifted from military to ecological; conservation and preservation began to rank with leadership training in terms of focus. During the 1980s, NOLS continued to improve, working on increasing the professionalism of its staff and increasing the range of courses. This is when they helped create the US "Leave No Trace" program. In 1999, NOLS purchased the Wilderness Medicine Institute and created NOLS Professional Training.
At NOLS, leadership means timely, appropriate actions that guide and support your group to set and achieve realistic goals. "Great leaders" are expected to create an environment that inspires individuals and groups to achieve their full potential. NOLS teaches this leadership experientially: you don't get an "A" at NOLS by reciting the teacher's notes; you get an "A" by helping your expedition to set and attain goals, like climbing a mountain. The effectiveness of this expedition format is what has attracted NASA and the US Naval Academy to NOLS.
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