Outdoor Adventure and Leadership for Youth
Our Mission
"We believe every young person has the potential to become a compassionate and transformational leader in their community. We develop qualities connected to a strong sense of self and an adventurous spirit through adventure education, service learning, and quality instruction."
Our Program
Every year we teach TAASC students rock climbing, backpacking, canoeing, kayaking, caving, camp craft, wilderness medicine, wilderness survival, and more! We also complete multiple outdoor service projects in and around our community. We hold high expectations for our students and give them the support they need to succeed and grow at every level. We then actively translate the competence and confidence they develop in the outdoors into practical leadership skills they take to all other areas of their lives.
To see more details about our programming, click below.
Our Students
Our students come from all local communities and from all walks of life. Some come with outdoor experience, but most do not. What our students find at TAASC is a community of belonging and support that allows them to become the best versions of themselves. They find peers that inspire them to push their comfort
zones, and staff mentors that hold high expectations while providing the belief and support for success. TAASC students prove that, given the right environment, kids and teens are capable of far more than modern society expects of them. Hundreds of TAASC graduates have gone on to become business and community leaders locally and across the country, citing TAASC as a critical source of their success.
To see more photos from decades of TAASC programming, click below.
Our History
TAASC was founded in 1996 when lifelong adventurer and Outward Bound Safety Director Mike Fischesser recognized a need to serve youth locally in the community he loved. Originally named Scouting Outward, TAASC's inaugural group of students blazed a trail of legacy still being followed today.
Over the years, TAASC groups have:
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Been on scene assisting with four flood disaster relief efforts
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Completed a 320-mile canoe expedition on the Keele River near the Arctic Circle
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Completed a 400-mile mountains-to-sea canoe trip to raise money for Habitat for Humanity
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Completed a 300-mile Broad River canoe expedition to raise money for eastern NC flood victims
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Completed a canoe expedition of the Nahanni River in the far Northwest territories of Canada
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Regularly completed an 80-mile mountaineering trip to the Sierra Nevadas to summit Spirit of America, a 12,640ft peak first named and climbed by TAASC in honor of the victims and heroes of 9/11
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Regularly completed mountaineering trips to the Wind River Range in Wyoming
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Annually completed 50-mile backpacking trips on the Appalachian Trail
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Annually completed a 500ft-1000ft rappel down the face of Stone Mountain
TAASC was built on a foundation of preparing kids and teens for authentic expeditions where learning and growth happen organically, and leadership - in its truest form - is discovered, not taught.
To learn more about our adventure programming philosophy, click below.
Our Donors
TAASC programming is made possible by our students and their families. TAASC programming is made more accessible by our donors. Our 30-year history in the community has built relationships that earn TAASC a long and generous list of donors each and every year. We strive to secure corporate sponsorships and donations that cover our overhead and
growth initiatives so that 100% of individual donations go directly to student scholarships. Our scholarship fund broadens access to TAASC programming, ensuring that we are able to serve the community we live and play in. Thank you so much to our past, present, and future TAASC community for all of the support. We are all creating the leaders of tomorrow, together.
To learn more about how you can support TAASC, click below.