Brandon Olson is the expeditionary learning coordinator at the Monadnock Community Connections School in New Hampshire, which offers experiential and community-based education.

"In order to enter our school, students must participate in a two-week Wilderness Orientation Trek that I lead and helped develop," Olson says. "This consists of one week of backpacking, four days of canoe camping, two days of community service in a state park, building a sweat lodge and running the last mile to a community BBQ."

Besides teaching students about the great outdoors, the trip also teaches leadership skills.

Olson graduated college with a degree in outdoor education with an emphasis on environmental education. Before working at the school, he spent two years at a Nicaraguan nature reserve with the Peace Corps, where he helped develop an environmental education program. As a teacher, he also spends time developing curriculum and making sure students meet educational standards.

"I enjoy being able to provide (my students) with opportunities to develop an appreciation of nature," says Olson, "as well as understand themselves in a much more fundamental way."