Life on the Trail: An Instructor’s Perspective

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 >

From Desk Jockey to Outward Bound Instructor

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 >

Insight Day gets students climbing

Northeast High School students participated in the Philadelphia Outward Bound School’s Insight Day on Friday at the Discovery Center in Fairmount Park. The day included team-building activities such as an outdoor ropes course, where partners were challenged to climb to the top of a large structure in harnesses as their peers belayed. “Climbing was really… READ MORE >

March 2022 Newsletter

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 >

Instructor Story: Challenge + Fun = Growth

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 >

POBS is on TikTok! Here’s Why…

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 >

POBS 2021 Annual Report

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 >