60 Pounds of Cheese and 104 Degrees: After a Long Summer, Super Hero In-Town Staff Re-open NOLS Southwest for Fall Season

(Above: Branch Director Lindsay Nohl and Rations Manager Lauren Blank show off the new stock of cheese purchased for the fall courses. Photo: Andrew Megas-Russell)

Since our opening week back at the start of September, there have been an abundance of accomplishments here at the NOLS Southwest Branch in Tucson, AZ. 104-degree temperatures offered grueling conditions for the in-town staff as they cleaned and prepared the branch for student arrival. Nick Hall and Andrew Megas-Russell spent days in the outfitting room, where they repaired rental gear and stocked the shelves with new merchandise.

Lauren Blank, Nick Cross and Will Butierez made a record breaking trip to Costco. They filled a truck to the brim with over 60 pounds of cheese, tubs of peanut butter, and more snack food than one semester course could ever think of eating. Brad Swander spent countless hours as he updated the branch to current facility standards.

After driving over 3,700 miles from the NOLS Alaska branch, Shay Coe returned this year with partner Aly Emmett and their dog Nimbus. Shay has worked hard to tune up the vehicles and pull pack rat nests, that had accumulated over the summer, out of air conditioning units.

Heather and Dennis have put in a great effort around the branch helping with miscellaneous odd jobs where needed. Lindsay Nohl, Nick Cross, Ben Venter and Bri Mackay have been busy around the office as they have fine-tuned the logistics for the upcoming student courses. In between the many hot hours of hard work, the in-town staff team made sure to spend time in the refreshing water of the pool.

To meet the in-town staff working at NOLS Southwest this fall check out the staff profile link!!

(Above: Assistant Director Nick Cross sets up food bins in a strategic pattern to encourage drying after a thorough wash. Photo: Andrew Megas-Russell)