<p>National Outdoor Leadership School. Anyone have any experiences?</p>
<p>Yes - do you have any particular questions? In fact, my friend's D is going to India in a few weeks on a NOLS trip. I have done 2 different NOLS programs and have only positive experiences to report - as do other people I know who have participated in NOLS.</p>
<p>My 16 yr old out of the blue announced that he wants to do one of their trips this summer. I have not heard of it. I have just glanced at the booklet but they seem to be fairly rigorous. I am surprised he is up for being in the wilderness for 30 days.
What trips did you do?
His first choice would be a trip for 16 and 17 yr olds. Some of the trips are 16 and up and he is concerned that there not be enough people his age. I did e-mail them this evening to find out what trips if any still have space.
My oldest went to India a few summers ago with another program and it changed her life.</p>
<p>MOM60 - NOLS has a great web site too.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nols.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.nols.edu/</a></p>
<p>Check it out until you get your BOOK from them LOL - great opportunity for students. They have college semester programs also - for credit!!</p>
<p>I did skiing and river/hiking - do not let the wilderness "rigor" deter your S. In my experience they make sure that everyone can keep up and they are very patient. The goal is to test limits and teach skills. I think they do a very good job of it - and it is a very well run program - I was early 20s when I went and there was a mix of ages but it did not seem to matter much since we were all out of high school - and I guess that it is not age that matters as much as what stage of life everyone is in. On both the trips I recall at least one person being high maintenance.</p>
<p>I have also done an Outward Bound trip in Maine - ages ago when I was in high school. I LOVED that one too and it is what really got me interested in the outdoors. I grew up with a "beach" family so we never went camping/hiking/skiing etc. - I had no exposure or experience in wilderness skills. I think I really have enjoyed these kinds of trips because I have felt comfortable that if I didn't know how to do something they would teach me. I never went to summer camp when I was growing up - to me these were kind of what I thought I missed!! </p>
<p>I hope that helps!</p>
<p>mom60 -- what program did your oldest participate in that went to India? My son is trying to find programs in India that he can participate in and we aren't finding many.</p>
<p>hsmomstef- it was through Where there be Dragons. The India trip goes to Northern India. Sikkim and Darjeeling. They also have great trips to Tibet. They believe in being a traveler not a tourist. It was hard and it pushed her beyond her comfort zone but she loved it.
They have a great website. If you go to the bulletin board you can find posting the students made during their trips.</p>
<p>mom60 -- thanks for the information, we will take a look at that program. I think we may have seen it before but we weren't sure if it was legit. Always nice to have a recommendation!</p>
<p>thought you were talking about Florida State</p>