Students majoring in Therapeutic and Universal Design clown for the camera after working on the Challenge Course at Northland's Mabel Cora Maxwell Nature Study Area, a one-hundred acre nature reserve on the White River near campus.

The Northland College Outdoor Education Program offers three, Core-Plus majors.  While the Core is not designed to stand on its own as a major, it does represent the understandings that are common to outdoor professionals.  Students choose one of the three professional concentration areas in Outdoor Education to complete their degree or they may combine the Core with another established major such as Biology or Religion to result in a degree in a combined major, e.g., Outdoor Education/Biology or Outdoor Education/Religion.  In practice, this means that students wishing to major in Outdoor Education must complete the standard Liberal Education Program, all of the core courses listed below, plus all of the requirements listed under one of the three major emphases: Natural History, Therapeutic and Universal Design, and Adventure Education. 

It is not necessary to complete the core before taking classes in the chosen emphasis (major) as long as all requirements for both are satisfied prior to the intended time of graduation.  The core is especially helpful to new Outdoor Education Students who have yet to decide on a major emphasis.  These students can start by taking any of the core courses, confident in the knowledge that these will satisfy program requirements, regardless of their eventual choice of major.  Further, because each of the three Outdoor Education majors is represented in the core, starting with the core permits new students to sample each discipline before making a choice.

REQUIREMENTS FOR OUTDOOR EDUCATION CORE-PLUS MAJORS

*Meets Liberal Education Requirement.
**Correction to the 2004-2006 Northland Catalog

†Wilderness First Responder certification approved through SOLO, the Wilderness Medicine Association, or the Wilderness Medicine Institute of the National Outdoor Leadership School can be substituted for OED 240. Contact the Registrar’s Office with a current certification card to be awarded credit.

CONCENTRATIONS (CHOOSE ONE OF THREE)

1. Natural History

2. Therapeutic and Universal Design

3. Adventure Education