"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."
John Wooden
The following is NOLS' description of NOLS Founders Day over the past two years:
NOLS FOUNDERS DAY 2024
"On June 8, 1965, 43 students gathered near Lander, Wyoming, to embark on a 30-day adventure into the Wind River Mountains. This trip marked the founding of the National Outdoor Leadership School."
NOLS FOUNDERS DAY 2023
"Let's celebrate June 8, 1965, as it marked the day a group of 43 students gathered near Lander, Wyoming, to head into the Wind River Mountains for 30 days of camping, hiking, fishing, and mountaineering, establishing the National Outdoor Leadership School."
NOLS credits 43 nameless and leaderless students as NOLS FOUNDERS. Anyone see anyone missing in these two descriptions? To state the obvious - Paul Petzoldt, NOLS Founder, is missing. With no mention of Paul as the founder, there is no need for the appropriate punctuation mark, and the apostrophe can go missing.
One explanation for Paul's absence can be found in a recent WSJ interview of retired Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield titled The Long View of Higher Ed’s Decline. From the article, Mansfield sums up his view of higher education's decline as “an inversion of authority: ‘The less wise, who are the students, rule over the more wise, the professors.’”
NOLS Founders Day description is consistent with Mansfield's insight. 43 NOLS students are the Founders and have no need for Paul Petzoldt. The missing apostrophe marks Paul's absence and inverts authority. NOLS rewrites the school's beginnings.
Paul Petzoldt, the consummate teacher of outdoor skills and leadership, founded NOLS, not the 43 students who were fortunate enough to gather in Sinks Canyon on June 8, 1965 and have Paul lead them into the Wind Rivers (and back) for a transformative student experience.
NOLS Self-assembly is concerned that NOLS, undercut by a poorly implemented DEI initiative, has been on the decline for several years. No founder with no apostrophe is a telling marker for the misguided direction the school continues to take. NOLS needs to reaffirm its actual history and incorporate the NOLS mission and Expedition Behavior into its everyday practices and policies - from little to big.
Please join us and contact NOLS to ask them to include Paul and add the appropriate apostrophe in the description of NOLS Founder's Day.
The description of the Founder could include the following: Paul Petzoldt made his first ascent of the Grand Teton at age 16 in 1924. He was one of the first Americans to attempt K2 in 1938 and also climbed in the Alps and Himalayas. During WWII, he trained the 10th Mountain Division to survive in winter mountain conditions. In 1963 he was recruited to help set up the first Outward Bound in the United States. Paul founded the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in 1965 and took the first NOLS course into the Wind Rivers on June 8, 1965. His emphasis on Expedition Behavior and learn by doing continues to inspire climbers and outdoors enthusiasts worldwide.
We are ready to donate once Founders Day is Founder’s Day.
NOLS Self-Assembly
Our objective is to serve as a link between NOLS and the greater NOLS community for an open discussion about how NOLS can stay true to its Mission and the practice of Expedition Behavior. We have consistently reached out to the NOLS Board and the Executive team as a group. We aim to engage with open inquiry and constructive and generative dialogue.
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