Imagine you are leading a group of students on a multi-day backpacking trip deep in the heart of the Appalachian Trail. You’ve spent weeks preparing for this expedition, ensuring an enriching experience for your group. But despite your best efforts, an unexpected medical emergency arises! A member of your group twists an ankle, or worse,… READ MORE >

Later this summer I’ll be resigning my position at the Philadelphia Outward Bound School. This was a bittersweet decision for me and I would only be leaving to tackle something really significant – and challenging – next.  I’m planning to write a novel! This has been a lifelong dream, and my experiences at POBS have… READ MORE >

A Guest Blog Post by Northeast High School Teacher Andrew Adams January 30, 2023 I got bit hard by the hiking bug after I was fortunate enough to accompany ten Freshman from Northeast High School on a 5-day Outward Bound Expedition in the Spring of 2018. It was here that I first became familiar with… READ MORE >

The Philadelphia Outward Bound School is currently working with Audubon Mid-Atlantic on a paid internship program for high school students at The Discovery Center in Fairmount Park. The Environmental and Outdoor Leadership Program is a 10 week internship program that exposes Philadelphia high school students to nature & the outdoor industry through lessons in local… READ MORE >

In 2022, we introduced new course cameras to allow our students to capture their experience on expedition. The results were outstanding — hundreds of photos rolled in from the field and we posted them on our website so students could share, download and preserve their Outward Bound memories. Our instructors got involved too, and snapped… READ MORE >

One day in pre-Covid times, Taj Murdock took a break from cutting hair at his barbershop in North Philadelphia and strolled over to The Discovery Center in Fairmount Park to, as he put it, “get my nature on.” It was there that he met Kim Glodek and learned about the Philadelphia Outward Bound School (POBS),… READ MORE >

From a student in 1993 to teacher in the 2010s and now vice-principal, Danielle Merritt’s 30-year Outward Bound journey continues Danielle Merritt had no idea her Outward Bound course in 1993 was the very first expedition of the recently formed Philadelphia Outward Bound School (POBS), but she remembers her experience to this day. “So many… READ MORE >

“Never quit on a bad day,” says Madeline Troyer, a Field Instructor for the Philadelphia Outward Bound School (POBS). That’s the mantra which anchored Troyer as she trekked all 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail (AT). It took Troyer 128 days of continuous hiking and camping underneath the stars to walk from Springer Mountain in… READ MORE >