NOLS Patagonia’s Spanish program provides versions of NOLS catalog courses, including mountaineering, sea kayaking, and outdoor educator, plus Wilderness Medicine Institute courses like Wilderness First Aid and Wilderness First Responder. In addition to making NOLS courses accessible to Chileans by providing instruction in Spanish, courses are offered at a cost that reflects the local economy. Courses are also slightly shorter and scheduled to correspond with weekends, because the average Spanish program student is older and employed; the intent is to minimize impact on a student’s employment. Students in the Spanish program are frequently park rangers, teachers, and adventure guides.
Former director Rachael Price has said, “These graduates, in turn, have had a positive impact on Chilean tourism, and stand out among their peers in the industry because of their commitment to minimum impact practices, their solid technical skills, their versatility with communication, and their leadership abilities in the organizations they serve.”
The Spanish program had has ups and downs, and continues to run with a part-time program manager. Since 1993, it has served approximately 1000 students, and is currently in an upswing. In 2015-16, there were 201 projected students in 14 courses.
In 2016, NOLS Patagonia conducted a short survey of its Spanish program alumni. An email inviting alumni to complete the survey was sent to the Spanish program graduates email list. There were 58 respondents. Survey respondents ranged from alumni from 1994 to graduates from the current year. Thirty-four of the 58 respondents completed a NOLS course within the last 5 years. The survey did not provide a means to identify NOLS Patagonia staff or instructors, and it is speculated that staff and instructors are over-represented in the survey. While this complicates interpretation of the data, it is a first step (and baseline for the future) in the use of data analysis for the organization. and there is information in the data that is interesting in terms of NOLS Patagonia’s alumni community.
Courses:
- Respondents most accessed Wilderness Medicine Institute courses (26 of 58).
- The 2nd most reported course was Chilean Outdoor Educator (15 of 58), which was closely followed by Chilean Mountaineering and Leave No Trace (each with 12 of 58).
- 16 respondents were recipients of scholarships for catalog courses (including 10 P. Semesters and 3 P. Years).
Funding:
- 36 of 58 respondents reported using personal savings to pay for their NOLS courses.
- 16 of 58 people were scholarship recipients.
- 5 individuals reported using SENCE funding, which is government grants for professional development, and 5 others reported that their employers contributed funding for their courses.
- *Respondents were able to mark more than one answer for this question*
Employment:
- 32 of 58 respondents declared employment in Education.
- 15 of 58 respondents state that they work in Tourism, including guides and park rangers.
- A total of 18 of 58 respondents report working in either Business or Consulting.
- *Respondents were able to mark more than one answer for this question.*
Alumni Engagement:
- 19 of 58 respondents said they had attended alumni gatherings.
- 11 of 58 people said they had attended the annual NOLS Patagonia end of season equipment sale.
- 11 of 58 people said they had attended a talk about NOLS Patagonia.
- Only 2 of 58 respondents reported donating to NOLS Patagonia.
- *Respondents were able to mark more than one answer for this question.*
Online Engagement:
- 37 of 58 respondents had visited the NOLS Patagonia Facebook page.
- 39 of 58 people had visited NOLS.edu.
- 29 of 58 people had visited NOLS.cl.
- *Respondents were able to mark more than one answer for this question.*
Willingness to Share NOLS Patagonia:
- 49 of 58 respondents said they are available to share their NOLS Patagonia experiences.
- 5 of 58 reported that they will not share their NOLS Patagonia experiences.
