Leader Training Requirements

Leader Training Workshops

The OA Leader Training Program is designed to teach you all of the skills needed to feel comfortable in the outdoors and teach others how to enjoy being outside. No prior experience is required. All programs are free to Princeton University students, graduate students, faculty and staff.

The following are the components of OA leader training: 

1. Attend these on-campus workshops: 

  • Leadership 101 & 102
  • Managing Safety
  • Wilderness First Aid
  • Outdoor Technical Skills (for basecamp & backpacking trip leaders)

2. Attend a Leader Training Trip (LTT). This is a six-day, off-campus trip where participants practice leading a group outdoors. Leaders who wish to lead campus-based trips will stay in a cabin for their trip. Leaders who wish to lead camping or backcountry trips like backpacking or canoeing will participate in a backpacking trip. No experience necessary! 

OA Basecamp/Backcountry Leader Training Requirements

OA Basecamp trips camp out at state park campgrounds that have access to facilities like bathrooms and sometimes showers. OA Backcountry trips move from place to place each day camping in backcountry sites often with limited or no facilities.

  • Leadership 101 & 102 Workshops
  • First Aid & CPR
  • Managing Safety Workshop
  • Outdoor Technical Skills Workshop
  • Leader Training Trip

OA Campus-based Leader Training Requirements

OA Campus-based trips stay overnight in dorm rooms and do day trips out from campus to local nature and outdoor activities. Since you are staying on campus and not camping out, the Outdoor Technical Skills Workshop is not required.

  • Leadership 101 & 102 Workshops
  • First Aid & CPR
  • Managing Safety Workshop
  • Outdoor Technical Skills Workshop
  • Leader Training Trip

Leadership 101 & 102 Workshops

Developing effective leadership and group facilitation skills are essential for anyone serving in a leadership role. In these two leadership workshops, you will work in small groups to learn about the experiential learning cycle, situational leadership, active listening skills, strategies for debriefing, and fun teambuilding games to help bring a group together. 

Outdoor Technical Skills Workshop

Leading a group in a backcountry setting requires practice with a variety of outdoor camping skills. Outdoor Action's Outdoor Technical Skills Workshop offers both lecture and hands-on opportunities to practice skills including route planning, navigation, outdoor cooking, campsite selection, knots, tarp set-up, and more. 

Wilderness First Aid & CPR

Wilderness First Aid covers patient examination and evaluation, body systems and anatomy, wound care, splinting, environmental emergencies, and backcountry medicine. The workshop will be a combination of lectures and hands-on simulations to gain practice treating patients.

Outdoor Action offers two different courses:

  • Wilderness First Aid - two days (best for those leading day trips and basecamp trips)
  • Wilderness Advanced First Aid - four days (best for those leading backcountry trips)

Managing Safety

Operating a program that considers both physical and psychological safety requires an understanding of the dynamics that create unsafe situations. These situations are not exclusive to outdoor trips and can include working on team projects, dealing with bias in the workplace, and international travel. The Managing Safety Workshop provides you with an understanding of how to evaluate and manage risk potential by identifying hazard factors and implementing safety factors. Managing risk is a dynamic process of identifying and evaluating hazards (‘the bad stuff’) and implementing a series of positive factors like training, site management, policies and procedures, and traveler judgment (‘the good stuff’) to counterbalance both expected and unexpected risks.

Planning OA Leader Training into your Schedule

OA offers several complete sets of the on-campus leader training workshops each year.

  • Fall Break option: all of the workshops are offered during Fall Break
  • Wintersession option: all of the workshops are offered during Wintersession
  • Spring Break option: all of the workshops are offered during Spring Break
  • April option: all of the workshops are offered on weekends in April

Leader Training Trips are offered twice a year:

  • Wintersession: there is a 6-day backpacking trip to Florida over the second week of Wintersession
  • Post Exams in May: we offer a number of trips departing at the end of exams in May

You can mix and match when you take the various courses and workshops, as long as you have completed all of the on-campus workshops before going on your Leader Training Trip.

We encourage all students to take part in the leader training program! If you are an athlete or have other regular commitments, it is still possible to participate if you plan carefully. 

Religious Observances & OA

Outdoor Action makes every effort to schedule Leader Training activities so that they do not interfere with religious holidays and observances. Where possible, workshops are scheduled on Sundays after church and not on the Sabbath for Jewish students. For the 6-day Leader Training Trip (LTT), we usually have one trip that departs on Sunday and returns before sundown Friday. For the other LTTs, we are able to adapt the trip to meet shabbat observance needs. For Muslim students on a LTT, it is possible to perform ablution as well as daily prayers.

Please contact the OA office in advance so we can understand how to best meet your needs.

Varsity & Club Sport Athletes

Many athletes become OA Leaders either to lead Frosh Trips or other trips during the year. Depending on your sport(s), you may have to plan carefully for when you can complete the various Leader Training requirements.