The Outdoor Academy is an academic semester school for 10th and 11th graders. Arising from a long tradition of experiential education at Eagle’s Nest Camp, we combine a college preparatory curriculum with an outdoor program, environmental education, regional studies, and the arts. Similar to a college semester abroad, The Outdoor Academy enrolls up to 32 students with 13 faculty during the fall and spring semesters.

The Outdoor Academy takes advantage of its setting in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Classes in English, mathematics, science, history, foreign language, visual and performing arts, and music are taught both indoors as wellas by streams and in the forest. Our outdoor program teaches hiking, backpacking, canoeing, and rock climbing skills.

Our graduates attend Duke, Dartmouth, Davidson, Cal Tech, Reed, Hampshire, Bowdoin, Bates, Appalachian State, Warren Wilson, UNC, and many other colleges and universities.