NGU Serves Local Organizations Through Center for Outdoor Leadership
Posted on: August 10, 2023
Tigerville, SC (Aug. 10, 2023) North Greenville University’s (NGU) Center for Outdoor Leadership hosted its first event in June, partnering with SOLO Southeast to provide a Wilderness First Aid course on the university’s Tigerville campus.
“The idea for the Center for Outdoor leadership is to be a resource for external, like-minded organizations, and the NGU community,” said Dr. Sam Keith, NGU’s program coordinator for Outdoor Leadership.
“This event was a workshop on wilderness medicine, focusing on how you can treat illness and injury when in the back country when you’re far away from EMS, a hospital, or a doctor’s office. It’s designed to show you how to get creative with what you have and how to treat people and diagnose what they’re going through,” Keith said.
NGU’s Center for Outdoor Leadership is housed within the university’s School of Health and Wellness. Currently, NGU offers a concentration and a minor in outdoor leadership, which includes courses on parks and conservation, outdoor ministry, and experiential education. The program also offers skills courses in backpacking, kayaking, and rock climbing; as well as a certification in Wilderness Medicine.
“We serve students who don’t necessarily want a desk job,” Keith said. “They want to be in the outdoors and around things they enjoy. They care about environmental stewardship and preservation and we get to show them that there’s a whole field for this out there. We also welcome students who are not affiliated with the Outdoor Leadership program to take some of our courses. We have a handful of skills courses that can be really helpful for students and serve as a recreational resource.”
Established in 2022, the Center for Outdoor Leadership has already found ways to serve as a resource for the community.
“Our Center for Outdoor Leadership provides NGU with a special opportunity to partner with regional outdoor recreational and ministry facilities,” said Dr. Christine Haltiwanger, associate dean for NGU’s School of Health and Wellness. “Our faculty’s expertise in outdoor programming and experiential learning is extensive and competitive.”
“As convicted believers, our faculty are uniquely qualified to enhance recreational and religious programming for deeper understanding of God’s creation and our responsibility to be good stewards of those gifts,” Haltiwanger continued. “Faculty members encourage leadership and outdoor skill development within their academic course and program offerings.”
About North Greenville University
NGU offers more than 125 areas of study across certificate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and early college opportunities. Online. In-person. At our main campus in Tigerville, SC, the Tim Brashier Campus in Greer, SC, or several educational centers around the U.S. One university, many locations. Every day. Epic.
