A YEAR OF GROWTH AND PREPARATION

We talk a lot about growth at Outward Bound, but it’s so much deeper than just the opportunities we create for students to grow. As an organization, we too need to see where we can expand our capabilities as a group and as individual members of a crew. In 2019, our focus on these strategies would unknowingly prepare us for the greatest challenge our school would face in the year that followed. Just like ‘duffel shuffle’ when students arrive on campus on day one, we emptied our bags and took stock of what we had, what was needed, and how we could hit the trailhead as prepared as possible for what was to come.

We worked with 6,339 students throughout the year, spanning 11,774 student program days. Our student outcomes report card, which has been our measurement tool since 2016, saw increases in social-emotional learning skills jump as much as 25% over 2018 and nearly 50% since we began collecting data in 2016. When combined with our commitment to delivering the Character Curriculum with our partners, used by 19 schools throughout the year, we can truly see the growth happening in the schools we work with.

We ended the year with an important milestone as we transitioned the name of our school to Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School in tandem with the launch of our new campus and offices in Washington DC. This expansion project required many years of internal planning and external partnerships to complete but we finally have a second location from which to bring our programs to youth in the Nation’s Capital.

None of this growth is possible without your commitment to our vision, your support of our relentless innovation, and your belief in the importance of Outward Bound in your community.

Ginger Mihalik
Executive Director

Andrew M. Brooks
Chairman, Board of Trustees