Meet Us
Adventure shapes learning. Learning shapes lives.
AdvenEd was founded on the belief that learning is most powerful when it is lived. We blend adventure, experiential education, and research-driven pedagogy to create learning experiences that challenge assumptions, foster growth, and strengthen connections. Whether in a classroom, on the water, or in conversation, we invite people to engage fully - mind, body, and spirit.
What We Do.
We create learning that moves you — designing educative encounters that activate thinking, stir feeling, and call for action.
Why We Do It.
To awaken joyful possibility - within, between, and beyond.
Our Values.
Community
Learning is communal. AdvenEd experiences foster dialogue and collaboration, ensuring that learning is shaped by many voices. Every participant is seen as both learner and teacher, contributing to a shared experience where diverse ways of knowing are honoured.
Action
Learning is active, best when engaging the whole person - physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. AdvenEd experiences invite participants to move, think, feel, and be present in ways that are accessible and meaningful for all.
Reflection
Insight deepens when we pause, question, and make sense of our experiences. AdvenEd programs build in space for personal and collective reflection, ensuring that learning is internalized, integrated, and connected to lived experience.
Environment
Learning is shaped by where we are. Place is not just a setting; it is an active part of the learning process. Whether in a wilderness setting, a boardroom, or a college, we recognize and respect the histories, cultures, and ecologies that shape each place. We seek to listen to the land, honour its stories, and engage responsibly.
Our Story
AdvenEd began as an idea shaped by years of teaching, leading, and learning in motion. It started in classrooms, in wilderness settings, and in conversations with educators and leaders who craved something more - something that made learning feel real, immersive, and lasting.
For years, we’ve explored what makes learning stick. From paddling northern rivers to leading innovation in higher education, our journey has shown us that the most powerful learning happens when people are encountering themselves, others and the world. AdvenEd was born out of this understanding: that adventure and education shouldn’t be separate.
Our work draws on academic depth, lived experience, and a commitment to care. We take the best of experiential learning, adventure, and research-driven pedagogy to design experiences that invite people beyond passive participation and into active, meaningful discovery.
What makes AdvenEd different is our approach - one that is about creating spaces where people can step beyond the familiar, challenge assumptions, and strengthen connections. Whether leading a team retreat, an immersive leadership experience, delivering a keynote or an educator workshop, we design learning that matters.
Meet Our Founder & CEO.
Dr. Carrie Nolan loves to be on the move. She’s paddled over 24,000 km - including across Canada - because she believes learning happens in motion. A recognized Kickass Canadian (officially, not just in spirit), she’s spent her career blending adventure and education to create experiences that stick.
Carrie holds a PhD in Education Foundations from the University of New Hampshire and an MSc in Experiential Education from Minnesota State University. She also has undergrads in Outdoor Recreation, Parks & Tourism and Geography from Lakehead University - an academic journey that reflects her passion for wilderness & classroom learning.
Her contributions to education have earned her the Association of Experiential Education’s Outstanding Educator of the Year Award, and she’s the author of Educative Encounters: The Classroom CARE Model. Whether leading a learning expedition, shaping institutional change, or writing about educational foundations, Carrie is all in - because, at the end of the day, learning should be an adventure.
Our Logo.
The Circle
The Yellow Circle represents glow and community - the light within and the connections we share. Learning and adventure help bring that inner light to the surface. It’s the warmth of doing something that matters, of feeling truly alive. And it's the circle of community - the bonds that hold us, inspire us, and remind us that we’re not in this alone.
The Open Box
The Open-Sided Box is about breaking out of constraints. Too often, learning is boxed in - structured, predictable, contained. But the best learning happens beyond those edges. The open box in our logo is a reminder that we grow when we step outside the expected.
Our Name
The Name AdvenEd comes from joining Adventure and Education and also from the word advene, which means to arrive, to be invited in, to become part of something. Learning is something we move into and become a part of. AdvenEd is your invitation into new experiences, new ways of thinking, and a deeper connection to the world.