Discover your world with Adventure Patagonia

Chile

3 or 6 Credits in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Resources, Leadership Studies, or Entrepreneurialism
December 26, 2007 – January 12, 2008

Instructor: Trace Gale
Facilitators: Greg Corio, Forrest Schwartz

Course Information (pdf)
Amizade Student Application (pdf)

Living life to the fullest means being comfortable with adventure and overcoming challenges. Do you have the level of comfort with adventure and challenge that will allow you to achieve your livelihood dreams? Would you like to help others to build their comfort levels and capabilities so that they too can achieve their dreams? If so, this experience is for you!

During this 18-day winter break adventure through Patagonia, Chile, you will both learn and teach. Through provocative readings, engaging discussion and direct experience, you will learn leadership, facilitation and livelihood entrepreneurship process skills. Once you are fully prepared, you will put your new skills to work through an extraordinary service learning assignment in the Aysén region of Chile; the heart of Patagonia. You will work together with a special group of locals, who have made a conscious decision to move beyond non-sustainable forms of livelihood in the region, like harvesting native forests, ranching, or mining. Instead, they have ventured in a new direction, hoping to develop a different set of livelihood capabilities that would enable a more independent and sustainable way of life.

Over the past five years, they have studied and worked to earn adventure guide certifications through their participation in a program entitled, “The Guide’s School of Patagonia”. Each has developed the outdoor leadership skills, the technical abilities, and the safety expertise needed for this growing area of regional livelihood. Now, they are working hard to build the skills they need to develop successful entrepreneurial companies that celebrate and preserve their land’s beauty and their people’s culture. While they are helping you to refine and develop your technical skills in sea kayaking, fly-fishing, trekking, horseback riding, back-country cooking, outdoor leadership and risk management, you will be helping them to plan and prepare for leadership in their own entrepreneurial and livelihood activities.

This 6-credit program is an integrated two-course unit which begins on October 2, 2007 and finishes on February 12, 2008. It includes to pre-travel mini adventure challenges which will help you to prepare for the trip and for the service assignment. These will take place at Quebec Run Recreation Area in Pennsylvania, and at the Adventure West Virginia high-ropes challenge course, at the WVU University Forest. Travel takes place from December 26, 2007 through January 12, 2008. After the trip, a final capstone event will take place at The Mountain Institute near Spruce Knob, in West Virginia. Both undergraduate and graduate credits are available.

A 3-credit program is also available for this winter break trip. The 3-credit option enables participation for students from remote campuses and involves a series of pre-travel readings and reflections which must be completed prior to travel, as well as a post-travel essay. Both undergraduate and graduate credits are available.