Wilderness education career calls area woman BY PATRICIA YOCZIS Correspondent Elyse Guarino After a year of study at The College of New Jersey in Ewing Township, Elyse Guarino, a Freehold Borough resident, was at a crossroads in her life. "I was in transition in my life and was looking for a direction," she said. "I overheard a conversation that helped me decide what to do." That conversation involved a friend and a fellow rock climber, Rob Krug, now a manager of a rock-climbing gym in Doylestown, Pa., and it led her to a career in wilderness education. "Rob mentioned a course he took at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) based in Wyoming," said Guarino, 23. "It sounded interesting and two weeks after I applied, I was accepted and made plans to head to the Southwest." In December 2007, Guarino and 11 students between the ages of 17 and 26, completed a three-month course in the Southwest based at the NOLS school in Tucson, Ariz. The course was led by three instructors who taught a variety of outdoor skills and techniques. The course included backpacking with 50 pounds of gear, caving in NewMexico's Carlsbad Caverns, canoeing on the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, Texas, rock climbing and independent living in the wilderness with the skills learned in the course.Also, all of the students became Wilderness First Aid certified. "While the physical aspects of the course were hard, I enjoyed that," said Guarino, a 2003 graduate of Calvary Academy, Lakewood. "The hardest part for me was the group dynamics of living and learning together with other people from a variety of backgrounds. I got along with everyone and still maintain friendships with them." She said students did not have to have prior outdoor skills to take the course and noted that she was not an avid outdoor person before going to NOLS. "What you really need is to want to be there and to go for it," said Guarino, who was a rock climber for about four years. "You'll learn the technical aspects. Just focus on why you want to be there. Everyone has a bad day out in the field. Relationships and leadership help you refocus." A fter completing the course, Guarino was offered and accepted a threemonth NOLS internship in general wilderness education in Tucson. In September, she will take a full-time position as an outfitting manager in charge of gear and rations. Her goal is to become an instructor and to lead field courses. "After courses end in May, I'll find contractworkwith otherwilderness outfits, do some wilderness exploring on my own and come back to Freehold before startingwork in September," she said. "I really love the outdoors and thank my parents for instilling a love of nature and being supportive of my career." Guarino's parents, Sarah and Peter, reside in Freehold Borough with their son, Victor, 19. Their married daughter, HeatherAlpert, 24, resides in Old Bridge, with her husband, Micah. According to Andrew Cormier, a NOLS intern from Connecticut based at the school's international headquarters in Lander, Wyo., NOLS was founded by a legendary mountaineer, Paul Petzoldt, in 1965. Each year, he said, more than 10,000 students between the ages of 14 and 70-plus, take NOLS courses that run as short as 10 days or a full academic year. In addition to internships, scholarships and college credit is available. "Students learn personal responsibility and leadership, not only in wilderness settings, but in daily life," said Cormier, who will end a NOLS marketing and public relations internship in June. Wilderness areas in the United States, he said, include the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, Idaho and Alaska. International destinations are Mexico, Patagonia in Chile, India, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Scandinavia, Western Canada, and Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic.