AJ Linnell Leadership Scholarship
The AJ Linnell Leadership Scholarship is in honor of Aaron Jay Linnell, an amazing outdoor trip leader who began at College Outdoors and became a top notch NOLS instructor. He was a Lewis & Clark graduate, who received his BA in English Literature here in 1999.
A.J. died in a small plane crash in the Frank Church Wilderness in central Idaho while returning home after working on a renewable energy project for a remote ranch in the spring of 2015.
Among his many accomplishments, A.J. became one of the nation’s best singlespeed mountain bikers, a very skilled ski mountaineer, and an extremely talented mountain guide. In short, he was quite an outdoor athlete.
Being an English Lit major, A.J. was a talented writer and authored a blog called “Playing with Gravity”. In one of the entries in his blog, A.J. wrote,
“Not knowing makes the adventure exciting, and a little scary, and challenging, and…worth it. And it’s often the unexpected outcomes of a day’s adventuring that become the most memorable parts of the day. It’s the not knowing that makes it all worth doing.”
To remember and honor A.J., College Outdoors has established this scholarship for students who demonstrate leadership potential and would like to participate in a leadership training opportunity. The scholarship pays all the student’s expenses, up to $500 per student. (If you’d like to honor AJ’s memory by donating to this fund, please make your check payable to Lewis & Clark College, and write “AJ Linnell Scholarship” in memo area of check. Address to mail donations: College Outdoors, Lewis & Clark College, 615 S. Palatine Hill Rd, Portland, OR 97219. You can also call the C.O. office at 503 768-7116, if you prefer to donate with a credit card or Venmo.)
Are you a student seeking funds through this scholarship? If so, the scholarship application is found on this page (the link is below) and can be submitted electronically, directly to College Outdoors. Please submit the scholarship application at least two weeks ahead of the start date of the trip or course in which you wish to participate.
Please direct any questions about the application to the College Outdoors Office.