Welcome to the North Carolina Outward Bound School's (NCOBS) first electronic newsletter, Trail Tales. We are proud to present this new collection of stories that highlights NCOBS' experienced staff, colorful basecamps, generous donors and -- the reason why we exist -- to serve life changing courses to our wonderful students!

In this and future issues, we will report NCOBS news, profile members of the Outward Bound family and talk about how NCOBS is transforming lives and communities. Also, you will have opportunities to register for courses, support the school, and connect with your crewmates and other NCOBS alumni.

By replacing our printed newslettter with an electronic newsletter, NCOBS is strengthening our adherence to the principle Leave No Trace. Please feel free to forward this to friends, suggest story ideas, or give us feedback by contacting Nicole Fava.

Thank you for signing up for Trail Tales, and for your friendship to the North Carolina Outward Bound School.

Until our paths cross again,

Whitney Montgomery

Executive Director

At the heart of the North Carolina Outward Bound School are our partnerships with schools and community organizations. That's why we are happy to announce three new partnerships this month.

LaGrange College
Thanks to a generous donation from college trustee Ted Beason, LaGrange College in Georgia is creating a Leadership Program for 10 incoming freshmen which will begin with an NCOBS rock climbing course. We are excited to be included in the start-up of such a prestigious program.

The Boys and Girls Club of Metro Atlanta
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation in Atlanta is kick-starting a new partnership between NCOBS and the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Atlanta (BGCMA). Teens in BGCMA's Leaders In Nature’s Kingdom project will progress through a series of courses over three years that are designed to build and reinforce the skills and confidence to become great leaders.

Freire Charter School
Further north, the Freire Charter School in Philadelphia just became a new NCOBS partner school this spring. With thanks to numerous individual donors who built the Philadelphia Scholarship Fund, two students and two Educator Initiative teachers will complement their traditional classroom education with help from the outdoor classroom.

If you would like to see a similar program at your school, college or university, call NCOBS Advancement Team Member Josh Thomas: jthomas@ncobs.org or call (828) 239-2171.

John Gray
Snow AND lightning? The week was getting off to an interesting start for my co-instructor and me. During the next five days, our crew of second-year students from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler School of Business would face challenges ranging from spending a frigid night on “solo” to sitting together and giving open, honest feedback to each other about how we were performing as individuals and as a team. Though the temperature barely rose above freezing during the course, these aspiring business leaders embraced the opportunities presented to them; as they learned about themselves and each other, laughter warmed all of us.

This Outward Bound Professional (OBP) program served as the kick-off event for an eight-week Leadership Immersion course that students at UNC Kenan-Flagler take as the capstone to their masters degree program. As an integral part in meeting the Leadership Immersion’s goal to deepen the students’ mastery of core leadership principles, the OBP program provides participants with the opportunity to put their leadership skills into practice, learn how to develop teams, and deliver effective feedback to each other.

Participant Todd Cobb recently recounted the value of the experience in a post for the Kenan-Flagler blog: “I got to test my own limits mentally, physically, and emotionally, but best of all, I developed a deep bond of trust with my teammates." Todd’s sentiment speaks to the potential of Outward Bound to transform individuals and groups, enabling them to do and be more.

As we waved goodbye at the end of our time together, the glow on the participants’ faces spoke to the power of the experience we had helped create. Or maybe the blood was just returning to their smiling faces as the warmth of the van was finally beginning to thaw them out.