Outdoor Education News

Magazine story spread of people in canoes

Dr. Andre’s Wild Ride

After a day on the river, my students and I hold an evening debrief. Discussion and reflection help us solidify learning and distill insights for the future. A canoe isn’t just a means of transportation—it’s a teacher, too. Whitewater rivers are dangerous, and learning whitewater paddling is intimidating. Before the first day of May Term,…

Cameron Jaeger ’23 and Liam Jansen ’23 canoeing through the ravine on campus as Bay City Creek is high with snow melt.

Outdoor Education Graduates Win Gold

Recent grads Cameron Jaeger ’23 and Liam Jansen ’23 win North American whitewater canoe championships.

Just a few weeks after Commencement, Cameron Jaeger and Liam Jansen are already putting skills they learned at Northland to work—on a national stage. The two 2023 outdoor education grads just won gold in the men’s tandem event at the 2023 North American Whitewater Open Canoe Slalom Championships. Liam and Cam first learned whitewater canoeing…

Apostle Islands

From the Archives: Lake Superior Programs at the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute

It’s just a short walk from the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute through the streets of Ashland, Wisconsin, to the shoreline of Lake Superior’s Chequamegon Bay. Since its founding, the Institute has recognized the unique value and wonder of Lake Superior, and the fall 2002 issue of the Institute’s Horizons newsletter featured a number of its…

Andre-Forest_Lodge_students

Slow Down, Do Less

Teaching Through COVID-19

How are you going to teach outdoor education online? was the question I was asked most this summer. As a professor of outdoor education, each time I’d read a news story about another COVID-19 outbreak at a summer camp, athletic program, or military base, I’d doubt anew whether we’d be able to run our signature…

Collage of Northland College professors who will be teaching a course on the pandemic

Pandemic!

A New Course at Northland College

The typical May term course at Northland College, set to begin April 27, promotes field-based, experiential, and immersive learning, as a way to focus on a particular topic, skill, or region. However, nothing is typical about this year and faculty pivoted—quickly. Northland announced a new course last week created specifically for these times—Pandemic! Northland Unites:…

Northland College alumni Patrick and Audrey Guilfoile hiking the Pacific Coast Trail

Patrick Guilfoile ’82 Appointed Interim Chancellor

The University of Wisconsin announced Patrick Guilfoile ’82 will serve as UW-Stout’s interim chancellor starting this August. He has been serving as UW-Stout’s provost and vice chancellor since July 2015. Guilfoile studied biology and outdoor education at Northland, then went on to earn a master of art in teaching in biology from UW-Eau Claire, a…

Mountain biking on the trails

Northland Ranks High for Outdoor Enthusiasts

Great Values Colleges Names Northland as Affordable Option

Great Value Colleges organization has named Northland College fourteenth on its list of 50 Great Affordable Colleges for Outdoor Enthusiasts. The reasons for the ranking are plentiful. Northland College has a vibrant outdoor education major, a forty-four-year-old outdoor orientation program for incoming students, a gear rental shop, bike shop, and student clubs for biking, sailing,…

Northland College alum Kayte Meola in warrior pose on mountain top.

Empowering Women in Developing Countries

Shout Louder, Try Harder, Never Give Up

Kayte Meola ‘90 is a sociologist, researcher, and educator focused on gender, agriculture, and natural resource management in international development.  At Northland, she studied outdoor education with a focus on…  Read More

Northland College alum Audra (Jung) Willing installing solar panels on top of a roof.

Climbing roofs? No problem.

Audra (Jung) Willing '05 uses outdoor ed skills for solar design

After college, Audra (Jung) Willing ‘ 05 moved to Seattle to work for the National Outdoor Leadership School as a wilderness field instructor and later as a program supervisor for…  Read More