In 1989, NOLS semester grad Lauren Hefferon singlehandedly founded a bike touring company to lead trips across Italy. Today, Forbes reports, Ciclismo Classico is celebrating its 30th anniversary and has expanded to offer a wide variety of trips across Europe. Lauren says it was her NOLS course that inspired her to pursue a life of learning, exploring, and teaching outdoors.

In addition to serving as Facebook’s Chief Product Officer for the past 13 years, Chris Cox is also a NOLS semester graduate. He says the lessons he learned about resiliency in Patagonia’s mountains have served him well at Facebook and beyond.

NOLS semester grad Andy Hill recently received one of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2019 “4 Under 40” awards for his work as High Country Regional Director & Watauga Riverkeeper for MountainTrue.

After her gap year, Semester in New Zealand grad Clare Tiedemann headed off to Oberlin College—where she recently broke the school record in the indoor 60-meter hurdles at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. She says her dream job is working as a NOLS instructor.

Environmental journalist Sara Sneath reflects on the life-changing three months she spent in the Rockies on a NOLS outdoor educator semester this fall. As she backpacked, climbed, and skied across the western U.S., she faced her fears and rediscovered a “sense of play.”