Words and photos by Kevin Enriquez
Leadership is one of those words that can be hard to define and often has a lot of attributes associated with it, many of them contradictory with each other. There are many leadership approaches that will work well with one group, but will completely fail with another. Developing a leadership style is an evolving process that is always changing, depending on the group and the situation.
The Outdoor Studies department at APU believes that by being part of a leadership experience students will be able to make decisions, see the outcome, and hopefully learn from that process to establish strong foundational leadership skills to build upon as a future Outdoor Professional.
Expedition Leadership introduces students to the process of leading a wilderness expedition. The students assist in planning, organizing, leading, and evaluating a twenty-one day expedition that traverses the Talkeetna Mountain Range. Additionally, students lead and teach field classes during the expedition pertaining to Wilderness Skills, Leadership Theory, and Environmental Science / Natural History.
Here are a few photo’s highlighting the 2017 Expedition Leadership and the beautiful Alaskan backcountry we get to call our classroom.
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- August Franzen and Jake Behnke sharing a cup of Yerba Mate for breakfast
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- Breakfast next to upper Caribou Creek
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- Instructor Terrell Moore leading a lesson on Leadership Theory
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- Ready for a warm shower and Moose’s Tooth pizza after exploring nearly 110 miles in the Talkeetna Mountains
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- Instructor Terrell Moore leading a lesson on Effective Communication
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- Students moving towards the next food ration drop off site
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- Students dropping into Nowhere Creek
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- August Franzen and Timothy Thorndike enjoying the half way marker of the twenty day course
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- Instructor Terrell Moore and Connor Hunt route planning for the day
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- Macy Hoffman packing up for a push towards Chitna Pass
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- Timothy Thorndike teaching a lesson on backcountry baking
