Happy New Year!

NOLS offices will be closed for the New Year holiday starting tomorrow, Friday, December 30. We will re-open Monday morning, January 2 at 8 AM mountain time.

I know, I know. The rest of the world is working Friday and taking Monday off. Schools here in Lander are back in session on Monday, so we decided to make it easy for families.

Give us a call Monday. We'll be here ready to serve you. In the meantime enjoy winter and Happy New Year! Yee-haw!

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director

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The NOLS Catalog Cover Happens By Design

At NOLS we feel the cover is one of the most important elements of our catalog. It’s the stuff that’s inside that is critical, but our cover gets our prospects there.  And it has to “tell” our story.

So what goes into a NOLS cover? We have a very disciplined approach.

• Every NOLS cover includes the NOLS identifiers: logo, the words “National Outdoor Leadership School”  and our tagline, “The Leader in Wilderness Education”.
• The cover photo has to tell the NOLS “story”:

o Leadership and Teamwork
o “Deep” wilderness
o Education
o Outdoor skills 

As part of the story we also try, through the photo, to indicate that we are an international organization and we have a diverse student body. For a while we used insets to get at the message. It didn’t require as much discipline, but we felt that we had too much “going on” on the cover.

No cover is perfect. How’d we do this year?

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director

p.s. For more on book covers see Seth Godin's "Judging a Book by its Cover".

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Some Nice Photos From a NOLS Course on Flickr

CIMG0521.JPG,
originally uploaded by nickstone1187.

I found this and some other photos posted by one of our graduates from a course this summer. There are now 858 photos tagged NOLS on Flickr.

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director

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Brand New--Baja Ocean Semester

Coming Fall, 2006. This is a first for NOLS. An entirely water based semester. Three different types of boats, three different skills, all learned and experienced on Mexico’s amazing Sea of Cortez.

First, you’ll explore the beautiful Baja coast by sea kayak navigating, rolling and surfing while you get your strokes down. Natural history will be a focus on this section as you paddle, fish and skin dive in the midst of Baja’s abundant bird and marine life.

Next you’ll trade sea kayaks for 22-foot long Drascombe longboats. Your exploration of Baja’s remote coves and beaches will continue as you develop your sailing skills on these light and maneuverable sailboats. You’ll learn to handle wind and waves, row and develop your teamwork.

From the Drascombe’s you will graduate to 40 foot keelboats where your sailing education continues. You’ll cook and sleep on board and rotate through all of the crew positions allowing you to master all of the skills necessary to sail on your own with an experienced crew.

The NOLS Baja Ocean Semester. A NOLS semester without the hiking boots. Brilliant!

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director

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NOLS Admission Office Holiday Schedule

Like good NOLSies everywhere the admission and marketing department is hitting the trail for the holidays--skiing, snowboarding, winter camping, hiking and swapping stories of fall adventures. The admission office will be closed December 24th, 25th and Monday the 26th.

We'll be open, but at reduced strength, on Tuesday the 27th, Wednesday the 28th and Thursday the 29th. We'll then close on Friday the 30th for New Years. We'll be open full force on Monday, January 2nd.

We look forward to taking care of all of your NOLS course needs.

Happy Holidays!

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director

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Snow Daze Selected for KidsFirst! Film Festival

Adventure Patrol:Snow Daze has been selected for the KidsFirst! film and video festival. The festival featuring the best of children's programming will be touring 45 cities during the month of February, March and April.

NOLS partnered with production company Big, Bright World producing this DVD series for kids 4 to 8 years of age. NOLS provided instructors as on-air personalities and logistical support. Snow Daze and other Adventure Patrol titles are available at the NOLS online store.

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director

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NOLS in Uganda

NOLS Professional Training has received funding from the World Wildlife Fund, UNESCO, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the European Union to offer a three tiered service to the Uganda Wildlife Authority.

NOLS Professional Training Program Coordinator Darran Wells leaves tomorrow for Uganda to provide a risk management review for the Ruwenzori Mountain National Park.  NOLS and Wilderness Medicine Institute instructors will team up next month to offer a Wilderness First Aid course followed by mountaineering skills training to thirty guides in the park.

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director

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NOLS' Buck Tilton Featured on New DVD Series

Buck Tilton, Co-founder of the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS, is one of four experts featured on the new two disc DVD series, "Prepared to Survive". Buck is the author of more than a dozen books and is a columnist for Backpacker Magazine.

The 2-DVD set offers practical information from experts who have faced wilderness survival situations. They teach everything from signaling and fire-building to prioritizing tasks to thinking clearly in stressful situations.

Congratulations, Buck on the completion of this project!

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director

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Breath

FSW1 Student Morgan Jacobs writes of the teachings she has received from her climbing instructor Cody at the majestic Cochise Stronghold in Arizona.

Breath deep he says. In and out. Forget about what's around you and focus on your toes. Keep those breaths steady, never skip a beat. In your nose and out your mouth. Think about something soothing to calm your mind. Put your body at ease and point your toes to the sky. Never doubt yourself, for doubt will only bring you down. In your nose and out your mouth. Keep focus on your route and keep your steps steady. Keep your head up and your mind clear. In your nose and out your mouth.

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Graduation Day

Congratulations to John, Ryan, Matt, Morgan, Scott, Chelsea, Kyle, Alwyn, Hanna, and Tim on their successful completion of an 88 day long Semester in the Southwest. FSW1 was shown how to do it right and do it in style by proctor Anne Kelly. Everyone at the Southwest adores this student group and their presence will be missed greatly.

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