About me
Erik Gearhart’s 30+ years in education have included instructing for NOLS, Outward Bound, classroom teaching, and managing multiple outdoor education programs. In addition to teaching at NAIS schools in California, Nevada, and Washington, Gearhart also taught at Native American Schools with the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes and developed partner learning programs with the Inupiaq, Gwich’in, Makah, and Lakota nations. Following Gearhart’s research into the experience of BIPOC students and families in independent schools, he developed a toolset for improving inclusion. His specialties include creating interdisciplinary experiential programs in critical cultural landscapes that blend outdoor education with intercultural immersion and academic studies. Erik also specializes in growing experiential education in schools while also working to bring risk management up to modern industry standards. In his role on the steering committee of the Northwest Independent School Outdoor Program Managers Group, Erik works with peer schools’ off-campus programs to improve their shared risk management and activity-specific protocols.
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