Great Outdoors University (GOU) is a youth outdoor experience program of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.  Its mission is to connect kids with the great outdoors in meaningful, life-changing and lasting ways.  GOU participants are youth from Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee, that would not learn about or experience the Great Outdoors otherwise.

Program components

GOU accomplishes its mission through conservation education, day field trips and overnight camping experiences.  Day field trips take kids hiking or fishing within an hour’s drive of Memphis; however the destinations are not urban parks or nature centers.  A primary goal of GOU is to expose kids to more remote and wild areas including Shelby Forest and Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge.

Great Outdoors University Weekends are overnight camping experiences held in the Spring and Fall at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area These three-day, two-night events include courses in orienteering, archery, wilderness survival skills, aquatic systems, hiking and fishing.  Written conservation education materials and activities are provided to participating organizations for follow-up to the hands-on experiences.

Youth Participants

GOU has partnerships with Girls Inc. of Memphis and the Chickasaw Council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

GOU formed its first partnership with ScoutReach program of the BSA’s Chickasaw Council.  BSA’s ScoutReach program provides special leadership and emphasis to urban and rural Scouting programs and is BSA’s commitment to making sure that all young people have an opportunity to join Scouting, regardless of their circumstances, neighborhood, or ethnic background.  Approximately 400 ScoutReach Scouts participated in Great Outdoors University programs during 2006.

Great Outdoors University’s partnership with Girls Inc. of Memphis began in Fall 2006.  Girls Inc. is a national non-profit youth organization dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold.  Girls Inc. provides researched, outcome-based, and age-progressive programs to million of American girls, particularly those in high-risk, under-served areas.  For more than 60 years, Girls Inc. of Memphis has responded to the changing needs of girls through programs, research and advocacy designed to build girls’ skills and self-confidence.  Approximately 100 Girls Inc. members participated in GOU hiking and fishing trips in 2006 as part of Girls Inc.’s self-reliance & lifeskills and sports & adventure programming.

Adult Participants

Adult leadership for GOU activities is provided by staff from participating organizations, volunteers, TWF staff, and contracted individuals.  GOU contracts with professional naturalists and environmental educators to teach and lead trips.  Contracted staff members are often from the Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society at the University of Tennessee at Martin, Memphis Botanic Gardens, Lichterman Nature Center, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  Boy Scout Scoutmasters and Girls Inc. staff members serve as chaperones for their respective organizations’ trips.  Volunteers from area hunting and fishing organizations accompany most trips.

Interested in Helping

If you are interested in learning more about GOU, or volunteering with the program, please e-mail Martha Lyle Ford, GOU Program Director at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it of call 731-780-6737.

Support

GOU is funded by a generous grant from the Memphis Daily News - http://www.memphisdailynews.com