My friends and I would make up elaborate stories about the things we found along the way. Occasionally we would run from barking dogs when we got too close to the forest border and get lost every once in a while.

I feel lucky to have grown up with the freedom to explore the natural world around me. I truly believe the human spirit is grounded in nature, making a connection to the natural world important in personal development.

That鈥檚 why we must continue to educate our children in all that the natural world holds.

During my career in outdoor education, the goal of getting young people outside and experiencing nature in an exciting way is always present.

In Richard Louv鈥檚 book Last Child in the Woods, he speaks of the growing gap between children and the outdoors and the physical and mental repercussions. He theorizes that rises in obesity, ADHD and depression in children correlate with spending less time outdoors and more time inside plugged in and stagnant. I am one that adheres to this line of thinking and while other factors certainly exist, today鈥檚 children have less connection to the natural world then ever before.

As a father of a 6-year-old, I鈥檓 always excited and nervous to introduce my son to new experiences, especially in the outdoors. This summer my family spent a week camping along the Arkansas River in the mountains near Buena Vista, Colorado. We came together with two other families with children the same age as our son. Our connection to these families stretches back long ago to when we all began working as outdoor educators and guides. The friendships run deep and we were excited to connect again, as parents but also as our children.

When we arrived I was struck by how quickly the kids got past shyness and hang-ups and began exploring the area. We watched their imaginations at full potential as they created new worlds out of thin air.

The creativity among the families began to grow, as one father brought out his knife and a couple pieces of wood and began fashioning rudimentary boats for each of the kids. The parents and kids worked together to move rocks and boulders around to create a miniature river course along the shore. Hours were spent running the boats along the current and fixing different channels with new rocks. What had started as a little project to pass some time had turned into hours of imaginative play, stemming from a lack of distractions and a freedom to create.

Kurt Hahn, educator and founder of Outward Bound nonprofit education organization, once said, 鈥淚 regard it as the foremost task of education: to ensure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self-denial, and above all, compassion.鈥� These five qualities would become the tenets by which the Outward Bound philosophy was created.

I spent eight years educating others in the outdoors based on these ideas and I strongly believe in what they stand for.

Just by putting our children in the outdoor environment while we were on vacation, I was able to witness each and every one of the tenets take place with little or no effort.

This is what all children should learn from the natural world. The freedom they will experience will benefit them more than we can imagine.

To put it simply, just let the mountains do the talking.

Nathan Vink is the assistant director of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Outdoor Adventure. He can be reached at Nathan.Vink@ucf.edu.

It鈥檚 a special place to me, and while I didn鈥檛 take the picture, I鈥檝e stood at the same exact point numerous times.

Most of those visits blend together, but two times 鈥� separated by seven years 鈥� stand out as pinnacle moments in my life.

During the summer of 2002 I felt lost. I had toiled in numerous jobs, finding little direction or purpose. I was in dire need of a challenge that would push me beyond my limits and help me to better understand what I was about.

My sister suggested taking a course with an outdoor-education school. Both my sister and brother-in-law had taken courses when they were younger and had transformative experiences. I remember seeing my sister following her course and thinking something had changed in her. It wasn鈥檛 anything that would be apparent to every person, but to me it was a subtle feeling that she had evolved into a stronger and more confident individual during those two and a half months she was away.

A few months later I embarked on a 90-day course with a nonprofit outdoor-education school that focuses on teaching technical outdoor skills, risk management and leadership through expedition-based courses. My course, a fall Rocky Mountain semester, was broken up into five sections: backpacking and backcountry travel, wilderness first aid, rock climbing, canyoneering, and backcountry skiing and winter travel.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

I struggled during the first section, as the altitude of the Rockies sapped my appetite and left me sleepless. With the support of my instructors, I pushed through the pain and the doubt and completed the section.

The rest of the course was filled with memorable moments too numerous to recount. The triumphs were there, like the six-day desert backpacking expedition I led using a map and compass or the rock-climbing route I led. And the adventures were there, like the blizzard above 10,000 feet that left me hypothermic or the time we lost our instructors.

As I stood at the top of the Sundance Trail looking down into confluence of Dark, Lean-To and Lost canyons, I couldn鈥檛 help but feel the weight of the moment; we were about to traverse a desolate landscape for the next two weeks with 65-pound backpacks, and I was content. I had learned the skills, pushed far beyond my comfort zone, and taken the moments as they came.

I now longed for the next challenge, as old challenges became second nature. I wanted to explore each moment rather than hurry from Point A to Point B. I looked into the deep canyons below and saw possibility over agony.

It gave me the confidence in who I was, and the humility to admit mistakes and learn from them.

Seven years later I stood at the same spot following in the shoes of my instructors, leading a group of students through their own personal sea change. I continued on in pursuit of becoming an outdoor education instructor because of my belief and understanding of what outdoor education can provide others through engaging and challenging outdoor expeditions. They have the ability to help unleash human potential, to teach students to harness their strengths, to break through their own limitations and those placed on them.

Learning to guide a raft through Class IV whitewater might not be a skill everyone takes back into their daily lives, but so much else can be taken away: learning a difficult skill to mastery through failures, feedback and experience; taking an active role in creating a supportive learning community; building trust amongst peers; and all the while pushing personal comfort zones each and every day. Many students leave with the idea, put simply, that if they can do that, they can do anything.

Outdoor education continues to play an active role in my life 15 years later, and that picture on my computer acts as a reminder of countless lessons, struggles and inspirations that continue to drive me to do what I do at 麻豆原创, where we offer a taste of these experiences through our Adventure Trips Program. The program gives students the opportunity to learn new skills while interacting with peers in an outdoor setting. I spent my time in mountains and desert, but schools offer experiences in different landscapes around the world.

I鈥檓 always happy to share a story or two about my experiences and if the opportunity is right, suggest that someone take a course.

If the call of the wild beckons, listen to it.

Nathan Vink is the assistant director of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Outdoor Adventure. He can be reached at Nathan.Vink@ucf.edu.

鈥淚t feels like a bit of freedom,鈥� said Katherine Torres, a student majoring in health services administration who has a muscle weakness that doesn鈥檛 allow her to stand or walk. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been one to challenge myself. And when a lot of people say I can鈥檛 do something 鈥� just watch. I didn鈥檛 know what to expect, but when I got half way there I thought to myself 鈥業鈥檓 going to keep on going. I can do this.鈥欌��

Some other universities in Florida offer rock climbing to their students, but 麻豆原创 is the only one to have an adaptive climbing wall, giving students with limited mobility a chance to climb, said Nathan Vink, assistant director of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Outdoor Adventure program.

This summer the Recreation and Wellness Center provided special training to eight staffers to jump-start its new adaptive-climbing program.

鈥淭his is a growing focus in recreation 鈥� to look beyond the able-bodied student and offer opportunities to all students, whether with physical or mental disabilities,鈥� Vink said about the campus Student Assisted Workout program. 鈥淥ur goals are also to try to reach the students who aren鈥檛 here yet, to open up opportunities. We have students who don鈥檛 have the same abilities, but they do have abilities.鈥�

The adaptive-climbing program empowers students, whether beginners or experienced, to reach their potential on the 41-foot tower.

鈥淭hey challenge themselves. They set their own goals,鈥� Vink said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 tell them they have to reach the top. We鈥檙e supportive of what they want to achieve.鈥�

The center trained staffers in the techniques of harnessing climbers in the equipment and controlling the safety ropes as the participants ascend. The climbers use a handlebar-style device that grips a rope and slowly ratchets them upwards as they repeatedly pull downward on the bar.

The ratchet system requires a quarter of the strength that other climbers would need to ascend the rope. There are different seat harnesses with various strapping and padding to help with pressure issues, and participants with prosthetic limbs can use the equipment in a way to help propel them up the rock face.

Torres, who also works in the Recreation and Wellness Center, said she heard about the campus climbing tower two years ago when she was a freshman, and has long wished she could somehow try to scale it 鈥� even if the prospect of ascending the tower was a little intimidating. And now with the staffers on duty to help, she has made the trip up twice.

Kristen Cioce, who uses a wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury, was hesitant at first to try the tower, but said she went up to fulfill a promise to one of her physical trainers 鈥� and it was an exhilarating experience that she鈥檇 do again if the opportunity came up.

鈥淚t was not something I was looking forward to doing. At first it was something I was trying to get out of,鈥� said Cioce, who graduated last month with a master’s degree in social work. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 an amazing opportunity that 麻豆原创 offers.”

Vink said the staffers also talk with the climbers to allay any fears about heights or falling. And as the climbers ascend, staffers 鈥渂elay鈥� the safety ropes 鈥� or take up the slack to prevent slips.

鈥淓very student is unique,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e just try to see how we can help them.鈥�

Three students used the system during the summer, and now that the fall semester has started, Vink expects others to check out the adaptive-climbing experience.

What advice do the veteran climbers have for others?

鈥淚 highly recommend it to any student who has inabilities,鈥� Cioce said. 鈥淛ust follow your gut if you鈥檙e being led to do it. You don鈥檛 have to get to the top.鈥�

And while聽people in wheelchairs usually feel smaller than others, Torres said, “This is a time to feel bigger than everyone. You can have a different perspective.鈥�

For more information about the climbing program or to schedule a climb, visit http://rwc.sdes.ucf.edu/facilities/climbing-tower.

The trip began with an 11-hour ride from Orlando to the Turkey Creek Campground in Almond, N.C. not far from the Tennessee state line. The students set up camp and cooked a great dinner before setting off early Saturday morning. Vink led a team of five students in one raft. The other four students divided into tandem inflatable kayaks or double 鈥渄uckies.鈥�

Vink, who has ten years of whitewater raft guiding experience including time with in Utah, says the elements were apparent from the start, 鈥淲e launched onto the river, hitting rapids right away. Along the way we were tested by a bumpy and rocky river, dodging back and forth while staying together around each corner.鈥�

He describes the Nantahala River as cool and clear as the Fontana Dam feeds the river with water. Students were treated to scenic views to take pictures along the way including a train that passed by at one point. Saturday鈥檚 run ended with a trip through the irregular waves up to four feet high with narrow passages to maneuver of the rapid white water of Nantahala Falls – intermediate class three. Rapid classifications go from one, for beginners, all the way up to six which is considered extreme or exploratory [meaning very few have attempted a run]. Students took turns rotating in the varying vessels to get the full experience of peaks and valleys of calm waters and swift rapids.

Vink says there was a bit of autumn in the air that day. 鈥淲e found the river to be colder and a little spookier with a fog hanging on the water. We bumped our way down for another fun run [the run takes about two hours]. Afterwards, we headed back to camp for a celebratory dinner around the campfire.鈥� That night the group of Knights exchanged stories of the day. The next morning the team jumped back into the van to head home to 麻豆原创 and tell their friends about their adventure.

The adventure trips are just one component of the RWC Outdoor Adventure program. OA鈥檚 serves the students and RWC鈥檚 continuing commitment to its vision of providing healthy lifestyle alternatives while enriching the campus experience.

For more information on the Outdoor Adventure program, contact Scott Mauro, RWC marketing and communications manager, at: 聽or call 407.823.2408.

Lessons will be held in the new lap pool, a highlight of the Recreation and Wellness Center鈥檚 65,000-square-foot expansion, which was completed in January.

Swimming lessons are free and will be taught by 麻豆原创-certified lifeguards. Lessons will be offered in three categories for new and experienced swimmers.

The beginner course is best for those with limited swimming experience who want to learn to be comfortable in the water. The intermediate class is for students with a basic knowledge of swimming who want to improve their techniques. The advanced class is recommended for students who want to perfect their strokes and build endurance.

Students must register by Friday, Feb. 18, and classes begin Monday, Feb. 21. Students are required to bring goggles and a towel to their lessons.

Click to learn more about the swim lessons.

Scuba lessons will begin in the Recreation and Wellness Center鈥檚 Outdoor Adventure Center and lap pool. As the classes progress, students will apply their lessons during dives at Blue Grotto and Blue Herring Bridge.

Scuba certification will be taught by instructors from Ranger Rick SCUBA. Entry-level open water certification, advanced diving and enriched air lessons will be offered.

Students are responsible for bringing a mask, snorkel, wetsuit, fins and scuba booties to each lesson.

Click to learn more about the different scuba certifications, pricing and sign-up deadlines.

To learn more visit the 麻豆原创 Recreation and Wellness Center, go to .