Location: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas What it is: NOLS (the National Outdoor Leadership School) is a wilderness-based education program. During the course of a program (which range from 7 days to a full-semester), students learn leadership skills, learning styles, personal assessment techniques, and outdoor skills, of course. Not everyone’s journey is as extreme as this video (from a different NOLS region), but you do get tested and lots of support in overcoming each obstacle.