Aerie is a Missoula, Montana-based organization, providing wilderness and front-country medical training to over 2,000 students a year in the United States, Mexico, Central America, Africa, and India. While we operate at an international level at some of the most beautiful locations in the world, we define ourselves by our service to individual students and the local communities where we teach. Our unique combination of national prominence and relatively small size allow us to remain abreast of the latest industry trends while never overlooking our individual students. From our first aid kits to wilderness medicine courses to our division of rural and urban medical classes, Aerie is committed to offering only quality services and products.

Learn more at their website: https://aeriemedicine.com/course-information

“Alzar Gap provides high school graduates with life changing experiences while offering tangible leadership training in world class destinations.  If you are seeking something more from your traditional university experience and are excited to learn more about yourself, gain a broader world view, and make authentic connections with diverse people in wild and untamed parts of the world, then Alzar Gap could offer your next step.”

Beginning in 2021, Alzar will be offering semester and year long programs in Patagonia and the American West. Outdoor activities include whitewater paddling and backpacking, and all Alzar programs include an outdoor leadership curriculum.

Learn more at their website: https://alzarschool.org/gap/

“Outward Bound is the leading provider of experiential and outdoor education programs for youth and adults. Regardless of who you are or where you are from, there is an Outward Bound course at an Outward Bound School that is right for you. Experience Outward Bound on one of our backpacking trips, mountaineering trips, whitewater rafting trips, canoeing trips, dog sledding expeditions, sailing trips and many other offerings.”

Learn more at their website: www.outwardbound.org

“All NOLS courses, from immersive wilderness expeditions to classroom-based wilderness medicine courses, are designed around learning by experience, mentorship from expert educators, and wilderness. Students finish their courses inspired and empower to act as leaders in their community.”

NOLS offers programs year round, around the world, from a week to a full gap year. If there is an outdoor activity you are interested in pursing, chances are NOLS has a course. NOLS Wilderness Medicine provides opportunities to get training and certifications at all levels of wilderness medicine to help you feel prepared in the backcountry.

Learn more at their website: https://nols.edu/en/

Bella Linville, Restoration Ecology student in 2023 said:

“I’m a very big kinetic learner. Lecture halls don’t work for me. You could repeat a fact over and over to me, and it will go in one ear and out the other. That’s who I am. 

But all of the things that we learned on this course, and the work that we’ve done–I’ll never be able to forget. It’s such a surreal feeling: when you’re out in the field, and you’re talking about a concept, or you’re talking about a theme. 

We talked a lot about white bark pine and about mountain pine beetle predation. And the next thing you know, we came across a stand of white bark pine that had been eaten away by mountain pine beetles. And it is so cool to talk about the things we’re learning and then see them happening in real life. You can’t get that in a classroom no matter how hard you try.”

The Wild Rockies Field Institute (WRFI) is a nonprofit academic institution with a primary focus on scholastic inquiry. Our courses seek to understand the complex relationship between ecological processes and human behavior. To varying degrees within each course, our curricula span natural, social, and physical sciences as well as humanities. While the academics on WRFI courses may feel relatively familiar to students, the context of our classrooms—wild landscapes and rural communities—will contrast dramatically to their experiences on campus. All WRFI courses take place entirely in a field-based setting; students live in tents for the duration of the programs, cook and eat meals from camp stoves, and backpack, kayak, canoe, or car camp. From New Mexico and Utah to Montana and Canada, our programs give students the opportunity to deeply engage in the landscapes and communities of the American West.

WRFI’s semester programs have been approved by Bates College for academic credit through the Center for Global Education.  For more information about enrolling in a WRFI course, please reach out to wrfi@wrfi.net.

Learn more at their website: https://www.wrfi.net/academics/