Pathfinder Courses

Our Pathfinder expeditions are designed for young adults who are recent high school graduates, college students, or young adults seeking personal, educational, or professional direction. Throughout these 30-day expeditions, students focus on increasing self-knowledge, clarifying values, strengthening decision-making skills and processes, and setting goals – all life skills to help chart a path toward independence with confidence and passion.

• Build core skills: Receive hands-on training on the skills and self-awareness you’ll need to tackle the challenges ahead. Your crew, comprised of individuals with diverse skill levels and backgrounds, will support you – and encourage you to try new approaches and explore new roles.
• Practice Outward Bound values: Learn to incorporate Outward Bound values into everyday life by pushing your own limits and seeking challenge as an opportunity for personal growth.
• Demonstrate mastery: As the course nears the end, students take on more leadership and decision-making responsibilities. Work together with your crew to apply new skills and achieve team goals during this final phase.
• What you’ll learn: Return home with an action plan for the future and the confidence to make it happen. With newfound leadership potential, self-awareness, and problem-solving skills, you’ll be ready for your next big step.

Service

Service is an integral part of the Outward Bound curriculum. Students are encouraged to practice service to the environment in the form of leaving campsites cleaner than they find them and practicing Leave No Trace ethics throughout the expedition. Preparing people to be of service to others is one of the core values of Outward Bound.

During the expedition, students participate in two days of community service. Service in Texas is designed to offer as much interaction with local people as possible, as a way of exchanging cultural awareness. The specific type of service project depends upon the structure of the course as well as local needs and opportunities. Service projects could include helping paint and clean in a border town or working in a local wilderness area.

Solo

The solo experience provides an important break from the rigors of the expedition and gives students the opportunity to reflect on their Outward Bound experience. Many students use this reflection time to make significant decisions about their future, journal or write letters to friends and family. The duration of solo depends on the course length and type, as well as the competency and preparedness of the student group. Students on a Pathfinder course typically experience a 24-48 hour solo. Regardless of solo length, all students receive sufficient food, water and shelter to keep them safe and healthy. Students find that solo provokes profound and powerful learning in a short period of time and often becomes one of the most memorable parts of their Outward Bound experience.

Outcomes

A 30-day Pathfinder course provides the opportunity to chart a path, the motivation to begin the journey, and the skills required to achieve personal and professional goals. While adventuring in the backcountry and tackling physical, mental and emotional challenges, students will:

• Develop more confidence and tenacity
• Gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their strengths and values, and how to move forward in alignment with those values
• Increase self-knowledge and awareness, as evidenced by a clearer sense of identity and an increase in sense of potential, compassion, self-understanding and interpersonal awareness
• Develop grit and self-efficacy, as evidenced by increased perseverance and confidence to complete tasks and reach for goals
• Improve decision-making skills through the day-to-day running of an expedition
• Depart with written goals for the future along with increased resiliency to handle what challenges may come as they pursue their newly defined direction

Course Area

Big Bend, TX 

The Big Bend is one of the most remote and geologically interesting landscapes in the United States. It lies along the US-Mexico border in southwestern Texas. In this course area, Rio Grande River carves a huge sweeping bend through the area, giving the region its name. This 750,000-square mile wilderness area is an ideal setting for whitewater canoeing, desert backpacking, canyoneering and rock climbing. Students experience delicate desert flowers existing alongside fossilized trees millions of years old while mountain passes give way to steep-walled canyons and cliffs.