Article and photos by POBS instructor Joe K. To return to POBS as an expedition instructor after a winter of rest means to hit the ground running. Within a day of our spring season beginning, we’re back on the Appalachian Trail. I get to share meals with people I have been missing, and return to… READ MORE >
The day Aaron Bonfante’s life changed began in the usual manner, with a busy morning in his office at Commerce Square, the high-rise office building complex in Center City Philadelphia where he worked as an auditor with a global accounting firm. Then, just after a lunch spent daydreaming about rock climbing, something caught his eye…. READ MORE >
The POBS 2021 Annual Report is Here! The 2021 Annual Report highlights our accomplishments over the past year and demonstrates our impact through both data and storytelling. It’s chock full of fun facts, photos, updates and stories, and it will give you a feel for what we are all about! Check out the POBS 2021… READ MORE >
POBS instructor Jeremy Cothran believes challenges can be met with positivity One day while bicycling through Center City, Jeremy Cothran came to Rittenhouse Square where a festival was taking place and what he saw stopped him in his tracks. “There was this large rock-climbing wall set up,” said Jeremy. “I got off my bike and… READ MORE >
Here at the Philadelphia Outward Bound School, most of our students are middle and high school age, and it makes sense for us to “meet them where they are at.” And where they are at is on social media, mostly Instagram and now more increasingly, TikTok. And the truth is, for all its lip-syncing teenagers,… READ MORE >
The POBS 2021 Annual Report highlights our accomplishments over the past year and demonstrates our impact through both data and storytelling. It’s chock full of fun facts, photos, updates and stories. You’ll learn a lot just by reading our Executive Director’s message on the first page. But don’t stop there – take a moment and… READ MORE >
This month we take a look at how expeditions spark transformation… Finding Empowerment at 20 Below Our own Development Director John Frisbee underwent a classic Outward Bound experience on a dogsledding expedition where he discovered the truth of our founder Kurt Hahn’s phrase “there is more in you than you know.” Read Johns’ Story > “He… READ MORE >
It’s about 5 PM, and the temperature is -20℉ and dropping. Despite this, steam is pouring off of me after four hours of near-continuous cross-country skiing, interspersed with “snubbing” – helping the team ease our 450-pound dogsleds down a steep hill via a frantic game of tug-of-war with gravity, using the “snubline” emerging from the… READ MORE >