National Outdoor Leadership School

Levine Scholars Summer One: Pre-College Outdoor Leadership Expedition

Each year, entering Levine Scholars engage in a custom-designed outdoor wilderness expedition that is focused on leadership and team building. This experience allows students to examine their core interests and values, while making purposeful choices that they can revisit and refine on a regular basis throughout their careers. Engaging in this process as a group, Levine Scholars develop a peer leadership network that provides both support and accountability throughout their time at UNC Charlotte and beyond.

In the summer of 2010, UNC Charlotte’s inaugural class of 15 Levine Scholars embarked on a challenging and inspirational 25-day leadership expedition in Wyoming’s magnificent Absaroka Range, a vast wilderness region with some of the most remote territory in the nation. The 2010 expedition was led by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), which has taught leadership, wilderness skills and environmental studies to more than 120,000 students since its inception in 1965.
The NOLS expedition is a time of transition for the students as they experience the wilderness as a team and, in turn, develop leadership skills while preparing to enter college. Returning scholars often report that the insight and awareness they gained as a NOLS graduate has helped them to be poised and ready for the challenges and opportunities they face as undergraduate students. The skills learned through NOLS continue to develop while at UNC Charlotte and eventually contribute to their success as they emerge as future leaders.

NOLS will also instruct the next class of Levine Scholars on their 25-day expedition as they backpack through Alaska’s Talkeetna Mountains in the summer of 2011. Click here to view additional information on the upcoming Alaska trip available only to Levine Scholars.