I am thrilled, overjoyed and beyond stoked to report that one of my favorite and most respected organizations, Outward Bound USA has endorsed the Academy!  First and foremost, my huge and humble thanks to Trevor Read, and his dad John who is the President and CEO of OB for taking the time to listen to my pitch, trade emails, ask questions and ultimately provide a huge boost of support to our cause.  OB and the Academy share common goals and purpose: to train leaders who commit to service to make our communities and world a smarter, safer, more equitable and cleaner place to live.

I have a great personal stake in Outward Bound as I am an alum from December 2004.  I went on a sea kayaking trip in Mexico during a time of unimaginable personal crisis and I credit those eight days with saving my life.  Not only am I terrified of the ocean, but I was in a very bad mood.  Outward Bound uses the context of wilderness settings to teach students about character and integrity and ethics.  By being completely stripped of the distractions and comforts of daily life, you are forced to deal with the present moment and its needs, sometimes caused by a mere change in the weather.  It is a constant exercise in focus and perspective.  Ultimately, you learn how to plan, lead, follow, and most of all, work toward common goals.  And you learn some really bitchen wilderness skills.

In one poignant moment, the cable system on my kayak’s rudder broke causing me to have no ability to steer and paddle efficiently.  It goes without saying the metaphor of being rudderless did not escape me.  Then the wind kicked up, blowing the back end of my boat around so fiercely that I fell behind my group.  I was having to paddle three times on one side to one on the other just to keep from being blown sideways, let alone move forward.  We were about a third of way into our crossing when this happened and I could feel that evil bad mood and frustration start to creep in.  The group stopped ahead to wait for me, and when I got within shouting distance again, I noticed that one of them had left their rudder up.  I started to yell over to tell my compatriot that he had forgotten to put it down, when I noticed another rudder out of the water.  And then another, and another, and another…  Each person had pulled their rudder out of the water to match the challenge I was facing due to the broken cable on my kayak in an effort to equalize our circumstances.  Everyone did this seemingly without question, but in this simple act of sacrifice, I understood they were just providing me an opportunity to succeed.

And I did.  I made it across.

Please join me in welcoming Outward Bound USA to the list of incredible service organizations that stand behind the creation of the US Public Service Academy and get out there and get your Senators and Congressmen and Women to pass this bill!!