WALI Gap Semesters: The Wilderness Adventures Leadership Institute offers opportunities for students to grow their leadership skills in an outdoor classroom like no other. Throughout each course, you will fine tune your leadership style, develop your critical thinking and problem solving skills, and become an integral member of your cohort – all of whom will challenge and inspire you into becoming your best self.
WALI Gap Semesters are for students 18+, offering opportunities to test your foundational outdoor skills and further your capabilities as a leader. At WALI, you and your cohort will earn your Wilderness First Responder and CPR / First Aid certifications, the industry standard for professional guides, trip leaders, search and rescue team members, outdoor recreationalists, and international travelers. Other certifications may include Swift Water Rescue, Leave No Trace Trainer, and more. Focusing on a plethora of technical skills in each semester, you will learn how to backpack, climb, whitewater raft, mountaineer, canoe, and sea kayak. You will utilize your time outside of the traditional classroom setting to hone in your hard and soft skills, receive impactful leadership instruction, and build towards your capstone experience at the end of your term. With an outdoor classroom unlike any other, this is the adventure of a lifetime.
Academic credit through the University of Wyoming is available for all WALI Gap Semester programs.
My gap semester with Wilderness Adventures was nothing short of transformative, and I can't recommend the program enough to any student considering taking a gap year before or during their time in college. The WALI program takes a small group of college-aged students out into the backcountry to foster their outdoor skills while backpacking, canoeing, and rafting. Yet the true lessons learned are in students' leadership and relationship skills as the small student group reads and discusses texts on leadership while forming a tight group bond. The WALI program is the perfect choice for students who want to expand their outdoor skills and take time to explore themselves and their interests before beginning their college experience. WALI will change your life; it changed mine.