If you’ve ever been on an Outward Bound expedition, you’ve seen in action how shared challenges, adversity, failure and success help our students discover and develop new skills, confidence and passion. Again and again over the past year and a half, we’ve seen huge challenges at a global level, and even more recently as our…
Author: NWOBS-Blog
Program Spotlight: Word is Bond
This July, we continued our work with the Word is Bond youth program in Portland. Our fourth full year running programing with Word is Bond, it has been one of our most exciting and successful yet. The Word is Bond youth program, created in partnership with the Portland Police Bureau, is a six-week summer community-building…
2021 – 2023 Strategic Framework
I am excited to share with you the Northwest Outward Bound School 2021 – 2023 Strategic Framework. As an organization, we’ve finally reached the point of this pandemic where we can look ahead, move forward with plans for the future and be invigorated by the opportunities that lie ahead. We know that some things will…
One Year Later
A year ago we quickly took action in ways I wouldn’t have thought possible. We pulled 17 students from the field on day 30 of their 78 day course. We furloughed most of our Administrative team as we bought time to gauge the magnitude and impacts of COVID-19. Our Portland Schools Program staff stayed home…
Donor Support in 2020 Sets NWOBS Up for Success in 2021
In a year that so many of us were challenged emotionally and physically, the Northwest Outward Bound School Community really stepped forward to support the school in 2020! We were able to exceed our 2020 donor support goal due to the generosity of our donor community, and we saw an increase of 65% in the…
Student Spotlight: A Place To Call Home
NWOBS alumna Camille Newsom reflects on her experience on a Northwest Outdoor Educator Course. Outward Bound gave me more than just fifty days of exposure to the Pacific Northwest, it gave me a place I could call home. On day one of course we were asked to stand where we call home on a theoretical…
Grant award will fund NWOBS work in North Central Washington!
We are excited to announce that Northwest Outward Bound School (NWOBS) was selected as a Youth Development Relief Fund Awardee by School’s Out Washington and the Washington State Department of Commerce. $9.4 million was recently awarded to 421 youth development organizations across Washington state, with a focus on organizations most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic…
Alumni Spotlight: Tiffany Thio
We launched our #InstagramTakeover series to highlight the incredible students, alumni, staff, and instructors who define us as an organization. Check out our IG Takeover with Tiffany Thio – a two-time Outward Bound alumna who is now entering the field of environmental science. See more IG Takeovers on our Instagram, @nwoutwardbound. We’re looking for more…
Facilitating Education for Life During the Pandemic
by Marc Heisterkamp, Executive Director As a parent and as a leader of an educational organization, I witness daily the impacts of the pandemic on our youth. We try to emulate normal life as much as we can but we know the impacts are significant. Our youth are doubled down on screen time. Parents and…
Recreating Responsibly
by Ari Kosel Ari has worked as an Instructor at the Oregon basecamp since 2015 and began writing blog articles for Outward Bound last year. In this post she shares resources for how we can all recreate responsibly in 2020 while prioritizing community health and working to improve inclusion and diversity in the outdoors. In…