Thursday, October 2, 2025 - Sunday, October 5, 2025

The Charlotte Educators Course is an innovative experiential education program providing professional development for Charlotte educators. This program is designed to reenergize educators and their teaching practice through personal adventure, experiential education, and social-emotional learning. The course takes place over a fall weekend in October, beginning the morning of Thursday, October 2, and ending at noon on Sunday, October 5, minimizing missed classroom time. This course counts as a CMS Continuing Education Credit. 

Thursday, October 2, 2025 - Sunday, October 5, 2025

Educators are immersed in a collaborative environment where firsthand experiences, hands-on learning, and individual and group reflection foster professional growth and personal transformation. They gain firsthand knowledge of the Outward Bound curriculum, including the experiential education model, all while building a supportive network of colleagues to help them bring their learnings back to the youth of the Charlotte community.

The Charlotte Educators course is FREE. Participants are responsible for transportation to the meetup location (Asheville, NC). Major gear items such as tarps, food, water, sleeping bags, and hiking bags will be provided. A complete gear list will be given to participants.

What to Expect Each Day
During the four-day course, you’ll be fully immersed in the wilderness alongside other Charlotte educators. A typical day may include:

• Morning: Wake up, prepare breakfast together, talk through the navigation plan, and pack up for the day’s hike.

• Daytime: Travel as a group through the Pisgah National Forest - hiking, navigating, and you will have one day of rock climbing or a high impact activity such as a high ropes course. Along the way, you’ll pause for rest, reflection, and educational discussions.

• Evening: Set up camp, cook dinner as a team, and close the day with group conversations around leadership, teamwork, and supporting youth.

• Night: Sleep under the stars and recharge for the next day’s adventure.

No prior outdoor experience or athletic ability is required. Outward Bound courses are designed for beginners, and our skilled instructors will guide you every step of the way.

Every day blends hands-on outdoor skills, teamwork, and reflective practice so you return not only renewed personally, but also with practical strategies to bring back to your students.

Please review our Wilderness Course Eligibility Criteria to better understand course expectations and requirements.

READY TO APPLY? CLICK HERE AND COMPLETE

QUESTIONS  

Alexys J. Woods, Charlotte Program Manager | [email protected] | 704.498.4353

 Vanessa McCroskey, Educators Program Director | [email protected] | (828) 239.2130