Feather River College reports that its Outdoor Recreation Leadership Program just completed its largest Raft Guide School in the 25-year history of the program, with 31 students successfully completing the two-week experience.
All course days for this annual class were held in the Feather River watershed, and students floated various stretches of the Middle Fork Feather River, East Branch North Fork Feather River and North Fork Feather River. ORL Program Coordinator Saylor Flett said students learned skills such as reading whitewater, navigating rapids, assessing risks and managing hazards, practicing rescue scenarios and working as a team of river runners.
Flett said these are the skills needed to work as commercial raft guides on various river systems that offer commercial rafting, and students are hired directly out of the class by raft company owners and guide managers who join the Raft Guide School. This year, seven students will head to raft companies for summer employment in what Flett calls “one of the best jobs on the planet.”
“This program is well known and well regarded in the rafting industry,” said Flett. He said many students go on to be commercial raft guides working on rivers “literally all over the world.” In addition, many students join the class out of personal interest to explore Plumas County and the Feather River watershed in a “unique and exciting way.”
This course is taught as a certification of completion, and it satisfies a portion of the associate ORL degree. As an open-enrollment institution, FRC welcomes everyone to enroll in all of its classes. While all the college’s whitewater courses are offered for credit only, they are open to the community.
Flett pointed out that many local highschoolers take ORL courses with FRC to receive college credit and satisfy physical education requirements for their highschool diplomas. In addition, college students from a wide range of departments across campus are signing up for ORL courses “because they love the culture and sense of belonging present in our program,” said Flett.
Two YouTube videos show the Raft Guide School in action and a sixth grade rafting adventure that featured ORL raft guides.
