Contact information: 413/775-1420
Web link: http://olp.gcc.mass.edu

Contact: Liz Carroll
Phone: 413/775-1420
E-mail: carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Media contact: Liz Carroll
Marketing & Publications
413/775-1420 | carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Release date: May 22, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Outdoor Leadership Program celebrates 25 years of educating leaders, entrepreneurs and adventurers

"When I looked at where our alumni have gone in the 25 years, we certainly have a core group that are working in the outdoor field,” says Michael Lyle, Lead Trainer for the Outdoor Leadership Program (OLP) at Greenfield Community College. "But then I realized that the folks who are not working in the outdoor field are working in the leadership field. Sure, we have students and staff who have climbed Everest or stood on the South Pole. But they're also guidance counselors, entrepreneurs, teachers and administrators of nonprofits. What I'm realizing after talking to all these people and hearing their stories is the difference they're making in their communities, and not just in the outdoor field.”

This weekend, over a hundred OLP alumni and their families are returning to campus to celebrate the close bonds forged during their intensive, year-long training at GCC, which is unique in the industry, according to Dave Wan, OLP Coordinator. "It bridges the gap between semester-type programs run by private companies and four-year degree programs where students are studying different subjects at different times. We do one intense year where everyone's on the same schedule.”

That means, at a minimum, 40 hours a week, much of which is spent in the out-of-doors. "Our students spend more days in the field than almost any other program,” says Kate Douglas, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the Behavioral Sciences. "We are truly experiential learning. We take students out into the field and they learn there.”

In 1998, GCC's Outdoor Leadership Program became the first community college outdoor program to win accreditation by the industry's national accreditation body, which Douglas cites as a highlight of the program. "We're very unique to be offering a program like this. I think the other (highlight) was when we branched out to recognize new trends in the field and changed our curriculum,” says Douglas. "That included building the indoor climbing wall here and purchasing what we call closed boats. It's really brought us into the 21st century, so that's been great.”

As a result, OLP graduates are snapped up by employers looking for outdoor leaders with the latest skills. They're also starting their own businesses. "We have a strong entrepreneurial spirit in our alumni,” says Lyle. "In fact, we have just over 400 graduates out there, but very easily I can count over 60 businesses and organizations that our students have started from scratch.”

Students and staff agree that it's the ability to teach leadership that sets GCC's program apart.

"Because we have that word ‘leadership' in our name, we're very different than an outdoor education program,” says Lyle. "We're held to a higher standard of training people with life skills like communication and group process. I used to wonder, ‘Are we just training adventure junkies?' until I went to a party and there was an OLP student there. His wife came up to me and said, ‘Hi, I want to thank you for the experience my husband's having here at your program. This is the first time in our marriage that my husband can talk about his feelings and communicate them to me, and he learned that from you guys.'

"And when I heard that, I thought, OK, that's really what we're doing here, because a key leadership skill is certainly to be able to communicate what you're feeling.”

Lyle has been talking to dozens of OLP alumni from all over the country as they call to sign up for the this weekend's reunion. "I just got off the phone with Bill Murphy ('84), who lives in San Francisco. He said that his OLP experience at GCC was so positive that he wanted to celebrate that, which was really neat because San Francisco is a long way to come for a reunion! He's obviously excited to reconnect with people from his class, and just to see some of the staff he worked with, like Kate Douglas and myself and people like Tom Foster and Larry Buell. What Tom doesn't know is that we dug up some photos of him and Larry. In fact, we have a photo of Tom Foster way high up in the trees, probably 35 years ago, stringing the original ropes course!” The photos will be part of a PowerPoint presentation at Saturday night's dinner event.

The reunion is also a chance to look to the future of the Outdoor Leadership Program. "We'd like to potentially expand into international travel,” says Lyle. "We also would like to diversity our student body by starting an OLP scholarship fund. A number of years ago, we had a student apply to the OLP program from Kenya. He had limited financial resources and with the extra fees that OLP charges, it looked like he would not be able to make it happen. A member of the Financial Aid staff hard about his plight and offered to let him stay for free on some property that she owned. He was able to swing the year and was the first member of his tribe to go to college. We'd like to be able to reach out to more folks from different socioeconomic classes who can't afford to take that first step into the training program, and get them into ‘green' jobs working in the out-of-doors.”

One thing that's stayed the same over 25 years is the program's promise to students: "If you want specific training so that you can get a job, come to us,” says Lyle. "We'll take you at the skill level you're at and move you forward. In nine months, you will have marketable skills and direct experience so that you will be able to get a job. Even now, 25 years later, there's no other program like ours in the country.”

If you would like more information about the reunion or the Outdoor Leadership Program, please call 775-1251.