Winter Outdoor Survival

The Winter Outdoor Survival spent this past weekend out at the A.L. Mickelson Field Station practicing surviving over night.  25 students were tasked with scenario that they were stranded and needed to survive the night, creating a shelter, staying warm and as happy as could be.  While not a true survival situation, the students were at most a couple hundred yards from lodge and were able to come in and eat dinner, it is a fairly effective course in showing the students that a little planning goes a long way in staying comfortable when you are lost in the woods.  We had a couple of nice snow caves and the remainder of the class used sticks, tarps and snow to construct their shelters.

Another part of the course is the ability to start a fire when it counts.  The goal is one match.  Students practice throughout the day, then in the evening, when it is harder as the temps drop and humidity comes up, they are set to start their fires.  It is an awakening when they have no problems during the middle of the day, but when the pressure fires would not light.  The perfect example of experiential education, no matter how many times you tell someone to plan ahead, find your supplies, keep them packed up and dry, it is not until they try it first hand they realize how important it really is.

Saturday started off decent enough with a few snow flurries, but turned into quite a snow storm.  It was nice as the temps stayed in the mid-20's.  That evening however the clouds cleared out and the students were left with single digit temps, the perfect conditions to really see how well they constructed their shelters.

BIG PROGRAM NEWS!!

Beginning with the Fall 2013 semester, the Outdoor Education program will be operating on a Block Semester Format.  The new FOCUS Semester, Focusing on One Course for Ultimate Success, will operate by offering one class at a time.  The students will take one class for 3-4 weeks, spending 5+/- hours a day focusing on that single course for the 3-4 weeks.

This will alsow for multiple benefical outcomes.  First, the students will only have one class to put their attention towards, not the classic 5-6 classes at the same time.  This allows for attention to be devoted to the one subject without taking anything away from other subjects.

Second it opens up the possibilities of how courses are taught.  The program will be based much more on an experiential model where the students will be in the traidtional classroom much less, and in the field practicing and learning new skills and knowledge.

We will also be starting some new classes.  Some of these include Backcountry Traveler where the students will spend two week learning backcountry skills followed by 10-14 days straight in the field.  What better way to learn about Outdoor Education and leading groups in the field than actually being in the field.

Unlike many programs that have one semester or a summer class that is spent outdoors, NWC students will spend their entire time at college with a focus on the outdoors.  Each semester will have classes that will spend time in the backcountry. 

The General Education courses will also follow the same format.  In many cases, those Gen Ed calsses will also have more of a focus on Outdoor Education, making them more practical and related to the students degree.

Part of the new program will also incude a partnership with the National Park Service in Lovell, WY at Bighorn Lake National Recreation Area.  Students will spend their OEPR 1550 course actually working with professionals in the aprk service out in the field.  They will have the ability to learn first hand about the Park Service, Forest Service, BLM and Game and Fish by working with them.  This will give the students the benefit of seeing what areas within those agencies might interest them as well as a foot in the door for future career oppertunities.

Out students will also be working with the Park Service to implement their new Water Ways program where Park Service will be starting a new program to increase non-motorized water travel on Bighorn Lake. 

This will be an exciting new adventure for the Outdoor Education program and students.  The new format should allow for better retention and more directed to the area(s) of interest for our students.

Also, keep an eye out for the new A.A.S. Outdoor Recreation Leadrship degree we are developing for the program.  Our planned implementation date is Fall 2013.  This will be ideal for the students that plan to start their Outdoor careers immediately following graduation from Northwest College.

The PEAC 1600 Ice Climbing class headed out to test thier skills on February 9-10th up the Southfork in Cody, WY.  On Saturday we went up to Broken Hearts, a WI3 and climbed multiple lines on the first pitch.  Day two was spent up Deer Creek where the class divided into two groups.  The first group stayed at the first pitch, which was a 15m vertical flow, while the other half continued up to the second pitch for a longer WI4 pillar.  It was a great day. 

There will be some photos added shortly.