Colorado Outward Bound School

Since 1962, Colorado Outward Bound School (COBS) has blazed the trail in outdoor experiential learning. On high mountain trails and whitewater rivers, we empower youth to discover they are stronger than they realize. 

With the outdoors as our classroom, we help student build skills for life, like confidence, resilience, and above all - compassion. 

Over the past several years, we have facilitated hundreds of courses with local schools and youth serving organizations - bringing Outward Bound to students who desperately need the chance to get outside, disconnect from their devices, and connect with each other.

We're embarking on a bold plan to triple the size our scholarship fund so that we can continue serving students and community partners who lack access to outdoor learning opportunities. We’re excited by this challenge but need your help to make it a reality.

Your support this Colorado Gives Day will be put to use in the following ways:

• Scholarships for individual students and community partners 
• Basecamp improvements that will allow us to serve more students and larger groups
• Staff investments to create pathways for a career in outdoor facilitation at COBS

Our Vision

Generations of youth empowered to realize their potential —rising with courage, leading with compassion, and building more connected, resilient communities. 

Our Values

Compassion  •  Courage   •  Inclusion   •  Integrity   •  Service 

Testimonials

“My COBS experience not only reduced my anxiety and depression, but ultimately shifted my approach to and view of the world. Overcoming challenges on course gave me the courage to lean into difficult situations back home and has given me an assurance about what I can do, that I did not have before. COBS showed me how to grab onto my life with both hands… I remember saying to myself, ‘Not one more day not fully alive.’ This is a mantra I still live by today.”
- Alissa Kuster, reflecting on her COBS Pathfinder course 

"This trip has helped me develop compassion, kindness and vulnerability. This course tests you physically yet even more so mentally at moments. I wouldn't have been able to develop some of these new character traits without this course and my peers."
- Jackson, COBS Alumni