Major: Outdoor Education
Graduation Year: 2015
I owe so much to the Outdoor Education program at UNH. I didn’t even know that I could be having this much fun for a living before I came into the program. The bar is set high for the standards they hold students for, especially in program design. Even things such as all the games and initiatives we learned are so useful in group management and keeping people engaged. I got so much from this program, ranging from the connections I’ve made with the wonderful students and professors to the large variety of hard skills I picked up, like top rope climbing and white water canoeing. I would say that entering the OE program was one of the best decisions of my life.
I did my internship at Avid4 Adventure in Denver, CO as a program instructor for their day camp. It started off with a pretty extensive training that lasted a little over a week. Luckily due to my time at UNH, I was already well equipped with skills necessary and I felt like the training was more of a review than anything. I already felt like what I learned in the OE program was being put to use and it was good to see that what I learned was being used in the industry.
The program that I dealt with the most was the Survival Skills camp that targeted kids in grades 2-7. As an instructor, we were given free range to teach what we thought was essential to know in the woods and we also had a day set out to teach canoeing. During a typical week, I would teach shelter building, fire construction, knots, plant identification, weather patterns, and briefly touch on compasses. Most importantly, we wanted to make sure that the kids had a good experience in the outdoors so we played a ton of games and had a bit of free time too. I had a blast exploring the beautiful places in Colorado and essentially just having fun everyday teaching kids outside.
I now work for Berkshire Outdoor Center in Becket, MA. I was hired as a program instructor with intention to instruct as a part of their international program in New Zealand. It is an 18-month position where I will be in New Zealand working for 6 months and in Becket for the other 12. This job involves leading high/low ropes course initiatives as well as hiking and some water sports too. It’s great to get a job with a lot of variety to keep things fresh and always be learning something new.
