the shuman Urban Wilderness Center
A Hands-on Learning Hub for Woodworking, Outdoor Skills, and Real-World Discovery
Centered around community
Urban Wilderness began in 2012, growing out of years of hands-on learning experiences with Cincinnati students through our mobile boatbuilding program and wilderness field trips. What started as traveling workshops and outdoor expeditions has evolved into a permanent home for immersive learning.
Now, the Shuman Urban Wilderness Center, located at Aiken High School, brings this work together under one roof. Open to students across Cincinnati, the Center offers both an Outdoor Semester and a Woodshop Semester, creating year-round opportunities to build skills, confidence, and real-world experience.
whAT is the center?
The Shuman Urban Wilderness Center is an innovative learning hub located on the campus of Aiken New Tech High School, a longtime partner of Urban Wilderness, in the Cincinnati neighborhood of College Hill. Students gain hands-on experience in woodworking, outdoor leadership, and skilled trades. The goal is to empower students to build practical skills, earn valuable certifications, and explore career pathways through a multi-year curriculum.
Who can particpate?
The program is open to any student in grades 10 through 12 from any school across Greater Cincinnati, public, private, or charter, including Aiken High School. No prior woodshop or outdoor experience is required. Starting in 2027, the Center will offer a full after-school program with priority enrollment for students from under-resourced communities. Interested students and families can apply here.
why is this important?
The Shuman Urban Wilderness Center allows students to learn in a new way: outdoors and out of the classroom. This immersive, experiential learning approach helps students build confidence, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities that traditional instruction often cannot reach, while also gaining practical knowledge relevant to carpentry, construction, industrial design trades, and more.
Our Goals
Learn outside the classroom
Connect students to outdoor and wilderness-based education.
hands-on teamwork
Build community through shared projects and teamwork.
career building
Create pathways toward certifications and future career opportunities.
The Program
The Center's after-school program runs two days a week for students in grades 10 through 12, with all tools, materials, and trips fully covered at no cost to students or families. Transportation support is available for students who need it.
Over the course of three years, students move from foundation to specialization to real-world application:
year 1: LEarn
Every student rotates through both the woodshop and outdoor pathways, building foundational safety skills, boatbuilding basics, and wilderness fundamentals.
year 2: dO
Students choose a focus, woodshop and boatbuilding, or outdoor education and woodsmanship, and take on more independent, advanced projects.
year 3: Teach & Apply
Students will mentor incoming first year participants, complete a capstone project, and take on a paid internship with a local business or organization.
levels designed to help students succeed
We know students have different schedules, responsibilities, and goals. That’s why the Urban Wilderness Center offers two levels of achievement within the certificate program. Students can earn meaningful recognition along the way, even if they are unable to complete the full three-year program.
Level 1 — Foundation & Specialization
Students who complete Year 1 earn their foundational credential. Students who continue through Year 2 build on those skills by choosing a specialization in Woodshop & Boatbuilding or Outdoor Education & Woodsmanship. Level 1 gives students a meaningful credential for the time they are able to commit.
Level 2 — capstone completion
Students who complete all three years earn the full CEF Certificate of Achievement. Level 2 includes everything from Years 1 and 2, plus a Year 3 capstone project, mentorship opportunities, and a paid internship with a local business or organization.
Whether a student participates for one year, two years, or all three, they leave with skills, experience, and an accomplishment they can carry forward.
Year 1
FOUNDATION
Learn the basics of Woodshop & Outdoor Leadership Skills
Earn Level 1 — Foundation Certificate
Year 2
SPECIALIZATION
Choose a pathway and go deeper into woodshop & boatbuilding, or outdoor education & woodsmanship
Earn Level 1 — Specialization Certificate
Year 3
CAPSTONE
Apply skills in the real world — capstone project, mentor students and work a paid internship.
Earn Level 2 — CEF Certificate
Credentials & CAreer Pathways
Students can earn a certificate after each year of the program, so even those who complete only one or two years still leave with a real credential. Along the way, the program builds toward up to three Ohio Graduation Seals, giving students transcript-recognized credit for their work. Year 3 students also complete a paid internship placement, connecting their skills directly to careers in carpentry, construction, outdoor education, design, and related fields.
Interested?
Click here to apply Today!
Questions from Parents & TEachers?
Reach out to Trace@campingedu.org for more information about the program.
The Shuman Urban Wilderness Center is made possible by the incredible support of X, X, X.