Degree Type: Associate of Applied Science Degree, AAS, Certificate, CER
Pathway: Business, Design, & Hospitality
More Options: Classroom Based
Program Length: 4 Semesters
Location: Centennial, Rampart Range, Other Off-Campus Location
Transferability: Transferable
Pikes Peak has advisors and enrollment specialists ready to help you get registered. We also have academic and student support teams to help you succeed.
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By pursuing an Outdoor Leadership and Recreation Technology degree at PPSC, you will explore your passion, develop your outdoor skills, gain leadership experience, and find employment doing what you love. The variety of careers open to graduates include Environmental Educator/Interpreter, Camp Director, Outdoor Adventure Guide and Forest Recreation Worker.
Our required internship experience will provide you with direct experience in the field of work, which is highly sought after by employers. Every graduate of the program will also attain a minimum of 3 relevant certifications including CPR/First Aid, Leave No Trace Trainer, & Wilderness First Responder.
220 Acre Mountain Field Location
Most classes are held at Aspen Valley Ranch, our 220-acre mountain field location in Woodland Park – a community partnership with the Pikes Peak Community Foundation.
Partner With Leaders in the Industry
We partner with leaders in the outdoor industry to provide the most accurate, up-to-date information and equipment. Expect excellent instruction from highly experienced and professional faculty.
What do PPSC Outdoor Leadership students study?
Your education will prepare you for employment in the Outdoor Recreation field by teaching you how to become an engaging and responsible leader and a steward of the environment and how to communicate environmental values.
Once you gain your degree you will be a competent, educated and marketable outdoor leader.
This course emphasizes the physiological, psychological and practical principles of survival. Survival equipment, wilderness improvising techniques, and wilderness dangers are included.
Emphasizes the motivation, aesthetics, and ethics of wilderness. Examines viewpoints from Native American, Western, historic, and modern environmental writers.
Introduces the development, acquisition, and application of outdoor leadership skills and knowledge. Focuses on the latest information philosophy, and techniques necessary to safely conduct outdoor programs and expeditions as an outdoor leader. Skills are applied under actual field conditions. Emphasizes minimal impact camping, wilderness ecology, judgment and decision making, group dynamics and trip logistics. These skills enhance effectiveness as an outdoor leader.
Examination of a variety of naturalist topics and identification of multiple plant and animal species including ecosystems, ecology, geology, nature journaling, interpretive guide techniques, and identification of plants, insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals.
Meets the standards for recertification of a Wilderness First Responder certification.
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Voices of PPSC
The professors here really work with you and all the staff are really kind.
Angelez Anderson
General Studies Major | Future Transfer Student
Career and Technical Education (CTE) – Notice of Non-Discrimination and other disclosures.