In a world where technology has become integral to daily life, many of us no longer rely on our most powerful tool: ourselves. Navigating Life: A Survival Guide to Thrive in the Real World will introduce students to a series of challenges and scenarios in which they will not have access to the amenities we are so used to today (cellphones, the internet, sometimes even clean water). The course will offer students alternative ways to improvise, adapt, and overcome in the face of these situations, and will provide them with low-tech solutions for survival in a high-tech world.

The course will introduce students to basic first aid and CPR training, AED training, fire safety training, the concepts of lifelong fitness, personal finance, navigation and orienteering, and public speaking, among other things. Students should expect to be mentally and physically challenged by this course, and should be prepared to be pushed outside of their comfort zone.

As a culminating project, students will participate in an overnight backpacking trip, where they will discuss and demonstrate some of the key skills that they learned throughout the course.