Inside Catlin Gabel’s Applied Leadership in the Outdoors Immersive, Part 3

This is Part 3 of a three-part series about Catlin Gabel's Applied Leadership in the Outdoors (ALO) Immersive, a two-week program that culminates in a five-day backpacking expedition in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. Part 1 and Part 2 followed students through preparation and five days in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. Here, we look at the student who helped make it all happen, and what four years of ALO taught him about leadership.

The Student Leader

Nolan has been part of ALO since his freshman year, first as a participant, then as a returning student, and finally as student leader. He grew up spending time outside with his family, and somewhere along the way backpacking became something more than recreation. "It's kind of shaped who I am as a person," he said. "What I think is important, what are real values. You can just sort of think about that along your hikes."

He came into the capstone knowing the program from the student side. Learning it from the inside was different.

"Once you get to be a leader, you see how much work goes into it," he said. "And it's a lot."

On the trail, his instinct was to take charge, to know what was happening and make it right. The harder lesson was learning to step back.

"I like to take control," he said. "But letting them try it, even if I don't think it's the right thing, they were able to figure it out. It worked out great."

Nolan graduated this spring. He said the Immersive does something that most classes can't—something he's been thinking about as he gets ready to leave. "It helps you prepare more for life after school," he said. "You get to actually practice it, planning your meals, managing yourself and others, thinking through everything you need. I'm going off to college next year, and doing all that planning, actually having to do it, has been helpful."

Why Five Days

The Immersive format is what makes this depth of growth possible, Babbitt said. Weekend trips and day hikes have value, but they can't replicate what happens when students are together long enough for ordinary social scripts to drop away—when you're cold and tired and the tent is leaking and there's nobody to solve it but the people around you.

"The value you get from a multi-day expedition versus a one-night overnight is exponentially more impactful," she said. "Nature is a great teacher. You can never predict what it's going to be and that's when people really come together."

That was visible even before the expedition began. On a prep hike through Forest Park, students moved through the trees in a loose pack, holding branches back for the person behind them, hushing the group when they passed a wedding happening in the woods. At one point, someone pulled out a harmonica and played a few bars of "Piano Man" on the trail.

Nolan wasn't there for that hike. He was back at school, double-checking the students had all the food and fuel required. He's been part of this program for four years—first as a wide-eyed freshman, then as a returning student who kept coming back, and finally as the person responsible for making sure it worked for everyone else. He has handed that off to someone else for next year. 

"It was a nice capstone," he said. "And it was really cool to pass it on."

Applied Leadership in the Outdoors is a for-credit Upper School Immersive offered through Catlin Gabel's Outdoor Education Program. The program is led by Director of Outdoor Education Lindsay Babbitt. This year's co-teachers were Kathy Sloan, Morgan Kerr-Staudinger, and Marguerite McKean.

Read from the beginning: Inside Catlin Gabel's Applied Leadership in the Outdoors Immersive, Part 1