At Oregon Wilderness Leadership School we have a vision of creating a community of future leaders that possess a respect for nature and their colleagues through transformative outdoor experiences.

 

Our mission is to offer teens an outdoor educational adventure that expands participants’ comfort zones through involvement in technical activities that promote interpersonal skills and leadership.

 

We at OWLS have specific goals for what students will experience during any one of our incredible adventures:

 

To create a positive learning environment in which participants will learn new technical skills.

• By the time participants leave our program, they should be able to successfully demonstrate four technical skills.

• At the end of the program, students will exhibit a mastered understanding of at least one technical skill.

 

Our participants will see growth within themselves and in their intrapersonal skills.

• Participants will display growth in intrapersonal skills by showing improvement in their teamwork abilities from the beginning to the end of the program.

• Participants will exhibit growth outside of their comfort zone by taking part in at least two activities in which they have previously shown hesitation.

 

To help connect our participants with the outdoors while fostering a deeper love with the natural world.

• Participants will display comprehension of at least two ecological relationships relevant to the environment in which they are recreating by the end of their trip.

• Participants will set at least three goals at the end of the session for how they will continue to respect the natural world while at home.

 

To encourage our participants to develop their leadership skills.

• Participants will each have the opportunity to act as a “leader of the day” during their program, in which they will be in the position to make decisions that may be present on their day of leading, including but not limited to navigation, mileage and meal plans.

• Participants will complete Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory at the beginning and end of the program to assess their style of leadership and awareness change throughout the duration of the program.