Outward Bound USA

Outward Bound USA (OBUSA) is the governing body for the national network of eleven regional Outward Bound schools in the United States. Each year more than 35,000 students participate in Outward Bound educational programs, in city classrooms and outdoors in amazing wilderness settings. The aims of Outward Bound learning are to foster personal growth and social skills of participants using challenging expeditions in the outdoors. "These adventures are designed for people to compete against themselves, not against each other. Kurt Hahn [the founder] hoped to develop 'a sense of conquest without the humiliation of the conquered.' His aim was to develop people through performance, not to make expert performers out of people. And as all Outward Bound activities -- with the exception of solo -- are conducted with others on whom they have to depend, the trainees are caught up in the spirit of 'all for one and one for all.'" Participants thus find that challenge converts to self-discovery, so that the world they return to looks and feels different from the one they left: it is charged with the possibility of making good.

Outward Bound USA is an experiential education organization in the United States, with a national network of regional schools across the country. The wide-ranging course offerings occur in the wilderness, on the sea and in the classroom, in cities and towns both close and far away.

Outward Bound USA and the national network of Outward Bound schools operate in collaborative partnership to assure consistent program standards across all schools and to ensure that Outward Bound safety practices, instructor qualifications and course curricula are, without exception, exceptional.

As part of a national system, each Outward Bound school operates autonomously with rich local legacies, intimate knowledge of its course areas, and close ties with the communities it serves. Each school forges active relationships with school systems and other local organizations to weave the threads of character, leadership, and ethic of service into the fabric of the local community.

Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School

Colorado Outward Bound School

Hurricane Island Outward Bound School

North Carolina Outward Bound School

Northwest Outward Bound School

Outward Bound California

Philadelphia Outward Bound School

Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center

Voyageur Outward Bound School

New York City Outward Bound Schools

Outward Bound Omaha

Outward Bound believes that every individual, regardless of age or circumstance, can benefit from an Outward Bound learning expedition. Each expedition is designed with the developmental needs and practical considerations of a particular age group or population in mind. All Outward Bound courses derive from the work of Kurt Hahn, a German educator (1886-1974) who considered it the foremost task of education to ensure the survival of five personal qualities: "an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self-denial, and above all, compassion."

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