Outdoor Orientation Program Symposium: OOPS

OOPS brings program directors, school administrators, student leaders, researchers, and land managers in one place to discuss strategies for supporting students in wilderness pre-orientation programs. OOPS provides context for program development and growth, best practices, new program techniques, and nuts and bolts information that will help established and aspiring programs. At OOPS, you will have the opportunity to meet others in the field, access new research, and share and discuss program management.

Upcoming OOPS Events

Watch for more information coming soon about OOPS at the AORE/WEA Joint National Conference!
 

The Outdoor Orientation Program Symposium is dedicated to bringing program directors, school administrators, student leaders, researchers, and land managers together to discuss strategies for supporting students in wilderness pre-orientation programs.

Every Symposium provides context for program development and growth, best practices, new program techniques, and nuts and bolts information that help established and aspiring outdoor orientation programs. Attendees will learn from multiple presenters and a keynote speaker in multiple presentation formats including experiential formats.

The outdoor orientation experiences provide students and young leaders with the unique opportunity to develop supportive peer groups during transition to college. These intensive, adventure-based experiences impact over 25,000 students a year, providing many students with their first intensive outdoor recreation experience. These experiences have also become a burgeoning area of growth for outdoor recreation leaders.

In 2012, the 2nd Outdoor Orientation Census was completed and in 6 years the number of outdoor orientation programs increased from 162 in 2006, to 185 in 2012. Perhaps most impressively, the number of student participants increased by 5,000 in the same time period.

Learn More

• "Pre-Orientation programs welcome class of 2016" Hamilton College's The Spectator, 2016
• "College outdoor orientation programs on the rise" Associated Press, 2011
• "Outdoor Orientation Program Research" Brent Bell, Marion Reid Holmes, 2010
• Brent J Bell on ResearchGate

Do you have resources to share with the OOPS community? Documents that make your program run? Links to helpful resources, or research and assessment tools? You can help others by sharing your knowledge! Send them to nationaloffice@aore.org.

Previous OOPS Events