IT’S ALL ABOUT THE STUDENTS BY MOLLY HERBER, NOLS WRITER
Greta Mills climbing in Frey, Argentina. Erin Browning
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THE
Greta Mills started to rock climb at age 14, and she’s been playing outside ever since. From planning her dream expedition to ski traverse the Sierras or strategizing how to make the best silnylon rain skirt, she dives into all aspects of the outdoors thoughtfully and joyfully, and brings the same joy to her students. Climbing was Mills’ entry point to the outdoors. The sport let her enjoy spending time with friends while taking on real responsibility and independence, a unique opportunity for a high schooler. Her love for the outdoors carried through college as she worked for her university’s outdoor program, then Outward Bound. She came to NOLS after an ongoing debate with her partner, a NOLS instructor, as they each tried to convince the other to start working for their respective organizations. Eventually, the pull of extended wilderness expeditions and the emphasis on leadership development brought Mills to NOLS, and she completed the Instructor Course in 2009. Since then, Mills has worked to create studentcentered courses as a climbing and hiking instructor. In a way that’s characteristic of folks who teach in the outdoors, when Mills talks about what draws her to climbing, she doesn’t mention the highest grade she’s climbed, or the sense of empowerment of overcoming the challenge; she said, “usually it teaches me all the lessons about being more humble … if I’m struggling, I realize that I feel like I’m entitled to be good at this, and
Leader
you’re not entitled to anything. You have to work hard at things and accept how they are.” Similarly, she’s not the type of educator who wants her students to think of her as the highest authority or parrot everything she says. Instead, she finds out what excites them and nurtures that excitement. As soon as she starts talking about students, the energy in her voice rises and it’s easy to hear how genuinely she wants them to grow and succeed. She said, “it feels like a total privilege to … give the people what they want,” whether that’s learning how to lead climb or to name the birds flitting around the climbing camp. This personal and personcentered teaching style feeds into an overall group environment that creates “the opportunity [for students] to have been their best self on their NOLS course,” said Mills. She recognizes that students come to the backcountry with their own goals, emotional baggage, insecurities and dreams. Drawing on four years of studying sociology, she works to meet students where they are in relation to the backcountry, the group, and the places from which they come. Though it’s preferable to imagine that the backcountry is a neutral space and a NOLS course enables students to build their own culture afresh, as Mills said, “We’re bringing all of our baggage with us.” That awareness helps Mills teach conflict resolution and topics on diversity and inclusion, situating apparently individualized conflicts in relation to the culture and context a person might be coming from. For Mills, having this context empowers her as an educator. With a heightened awareness for her students and her passion for climbing and the outdoors, she makes it easy to remember what most NOLS instructors strive for: that it’s all about the students.