Outdoor Programs
Student Leadership Program
Our Student Leadership Program is for inexperienced and experienced students alike. Students will have the chance to learn new technical and leadership skills and gain experience in guiding in the outdoors. Use those skills to work for the Outdoor Programs as a student leader on trips or clinics, or to get a summer or professional job as a guide for other organizations. Leadership skills can also be a great resume builder and can apply to many areas in life.
How do I sign up?
To sign up for the Student Leadership Program, just submit an Outdoor Resume. Email it to op@alaskapacific.edu or drop it off at the OP Office in the lower level of the Atwood Center.
Student Leadership Program Training Dates
| DATE |
TIME |
TRAINING |
| Oct 4 |
7-9pm |
Orientation, Trip Planning, & ERP |
| Oct 7-8 |
TBD |
Overnight Trip |
| Oct 16 |
6:30-8:30pm |
SLP Workshop |
| Nov 15 |
6:30-8:30pm |
SLP Workshop |
Program Details
OP Student Leadership Training
The Student Leadership Program will offer a variety of training workshops, clinics and trips throughout the year to provide students with the opportunity to increase their soft and hard guiding skills.
Trainings may include:
- Student Affairs Student Leadership Training
- Outdoor Leadership Training/ Hard Skills Trip
- Trip planning
- Group Dynamics
- Safety Management and Emergency Response
- Decision Making
- Leave No Trace
- Instruction in the Field
- Pool Kayak Instruction
- Survival Skills Trip
Note: The completion of these trainings alone does not automatically allow one to lead trips. See Promotion section.
Pay and Benefits
For Clinics
- OP Instructor - $12/hr
- OP Assistant Instructor - $10.00/hr
- Shadow/intern - volunteer
For Trips/Outings
- OP Instructor - $96/ day
- OP Assistant Instructor - $80/ day
- Shadow/intern – fee waived for cost of trip/clinic
Benefits
- Free Equipment Rental*: free equipment rental for the whole academic year. Limit of one day or one weekend rentals. SLP students must pay (the normal APU rate) for any rentals long than that. The OP rental policies and procedures still apply. SLP students abusing this privilege will no longer have free equipment rental.
- Free OP Trip or Clinic per semester*: must be a trip/clinic that is a new activity for you OR must be an activity which you need to improve your skills on in order to advance in SLP (go from shadow to assist, or assist to lead).
- Opportunity to be a Student Leader for OP: Shadows are apprentice positions and do not have to pay the student fee for trips, clinics or classes.
- Free SLP Trips: Any training trips for SLP will be free of charge (paid transportation, food, instruction, and rentals).
- Free Trainings: All SLP Trainings are free to students that are in the program.
- * To qualify for these benefits, students must be active in SLP within the academic year. "Active" means the student must to have attended at least 2 SLP trainings or been a student leader (shadow, assist, lead) on an OP Trip/Clinic within the current semester.
Leader Positions
- Shadow/Intern
- A student that would like to learn/improve their skills as a guide in general or guiding in a specific area. They work as an unpaid assistant to the instructors in a capacity to be determined by the instructor or OP Coordinator.
- All instructors will start as assistants or shadows to an OP event, unless they have extensively documented experience and references to verify their experience.
- For overnight off-campus outings, a shadow must have current CPR and First Aid certifications.
- To become an Assistant Instructor, a shadow/intern must demonstrate their skills and be evaluated by a lead Instructor, OP Coordinator or Assistant Coordinator.
- OP Assistant Instructor
- Is a staff person that is new to the program and/or new to the activity in which they are being asked to perform. An assistant will always work with an Instructor, or the OP coordinator.
- Assistant Instructor or on-campus Instructor must have a current basic first aid and CPR certification on file with the OP Office
- To be an Assistant Instructor on an off-campus trip, approval by the Coordinator or Assistant Coordinator must be obtained.
- OP Lead Instructor
- An OP instructor that is a lead instructor on an off-campus outing (i.e. sea kayak trip, ski trip, snowshoe tour) or on-campus class/clinic. Has worked extensively with the OP coordinator and has an outdoor resume that substantiates his/her experience level.
- To become a Lead Instructor, a student will need to demonstrate their teaching skills with the Coordinator, Assist. Coordinator, or OP Instructor present. To lead an off-campus trip, staff must work at least one off-campus activity with the Coordinator or Assistant Coordinator directly evaluating their skills, this will be done for each activity venue. Or have an extensive outdoor resume and approval by the OP Coordinator.
- The off-campus trip instructor must have previous experience in the trip area and on the particular route of travel as well as with the possible alternate routes, unless approval is given by the Outdoor Program Coordinator or Assistant Coordinator
- Lead Instructors must have a current Wilderness First Responder (or better) and CPR certification on file with the OP Office to do an overnight off-campus outing
- All Lead Instructors must follow the Emergency Plans procedures when handling an emergency and must abide by OP Policies while on a trip or instructing a class.
- Expectations of all OP Instructors, Assistants, or Shadows:
-
- All staff submit an Instructor Report for each OP event that they work (this can be a class/clinic or trip or can be a teaching or emergency experience as a monitor or EQ room staff- anything that has increased your experience). These reports will be placed in the staff's personnel file in the OP Office as documentation of their experience with Outdoor Programs.
- Participant evaluations should be collected for each event the staff person is involved with and given to the OP Coordinator. These will be kept on file as a record of the class/event.
- All staff will have an annual Employment Evaluation.
- All instructors must be have read or been briefed on the OP Policies and Procedures and the Emergency Response Plan.
Priority
Students will get priority (to be placed on OP trips and clinics) based upon the amount of experience with APU's Outdoor Programs, the amount of OP trainings they've participated in, OP events they have volunteered for (such as the Gear Swap, Pumpkin Pump Climbing Contest, etc.), and their skills as a guide.
To be promoted within Outdoor Programs:
To be promoted with OP (i.e. shadow to assistant, assistant to instructor) approval by the OP Coordinator/Assist. Coordinator must be made and a new contract written. The promotions are at the discretion of the OP Coordinator and Assist. Coordinator. The following list is used as criteria for the decisions and should be used as a guide for staff wanting to be promoted:
- Instructor Reports, Participant Evaluations and annual Employment Evaluations, are primary tools used to justify a promotion within OP.
- The amount of experience with OP.
- The amount of training through the OP leadership program and any training done outside of OP.
- Staff should constantly demonstrate a high level of responsibility, maturity, thoroughness, and initiative. They must also demonstrate sound judgment and group management skills.
