How Does Travel Work for Ascend Events?
Program structure
The Ascend program is built around a series of four live, in-person events that students attend each year they are enrolled.
For the sake of flexibility and accessibility, the Ascend program is a remote-hybrid program that enables students to invest in their local communities through family, church, work, etc. while pursuing relevant training and education for their future.
A foundation of strong community
The community that students get to plug into through Ascend and the relationships that are formed out of that community are consistently rated as the most influential parts of the student experience.
That’s why Ascend is built around quarterly live events.
While community can certainly be built online, relationships happen in person.
Now of course, due to the remote nature of the program, there are Ascend students living in all 50 states across the country.
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How exactly do we bring all of them together four times a year for these live events?
So glad you asked.
How does travel to Ascend events work?
Flying
Because Ascend events are held all across the country, flying is the most common method of transport.
For each event, students are given a time by which they should have their flights arrive and depart in order to make sure they can be transported to and from the event venue via shuttle along with the rest of the students.
Which airline students use is up to them, as long as they are able to fly into the designated airport for the venue.
For the current roster of events, students fly into Charlotte (CLT), Washington (IAD), Pensacola (PNS), and Denver (DEN).
Travel packages
If figuring out the logistics for all of these flights sounds stressful, you can have our team take care of it all for you!
We offer travel packages as add-ons with enrollment.
These packages include the cost of the flights for all four events. Our events team will book the flights for your student, provide all the necessary information to your student, and be available to assist with any logistical issues during your student’s travel.
Get your questions answered
If you have additional questions about the travel package, book a call with our admissions team to get them answered!
Driving
If students live within 6 hours of a given event, it’s expected that they will drive to the venue. All of our drivers are also given time windows in which they arrive to and leave from each event venue.
It’s very common for students who are driving to get together to organize carpools to events so they can travel together.
A lot of our students will go out of their way to arrange these carpools just so they can have more time with the friends they’ve made through Ascend!
How many live events are there?
There are four live events throughout the year that bring students together for in-person training, networking, and community building every quarter.
Registration for all four events is included in your student’s Ascend tuition and travel costs for the first event, APEX, are also covered.
Travel costs for the other three events can also be included in your student’s tuition with the add-on of a travel package.
APEX
APEX is our national conference, held in North Carolina during the second or third week of August.
For year one students, APEX is an orientation not just to Ascend but also to the student community and Unbound as a whole.
APEX is where students are first introduced to the key principles and relational culture behind Ascend.
Click here to watch the event recap video from the latest APEX event!
Basecamp
Basecamp is the second event of the year, held the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains in late October.
At Basecamp, students study what it takes to live a resilient life in the real world.
Click here to watch the event recap video from the latest Basecamp event!
All new third event
Starting in the 2024/2025 Ascend year, students will attend four live quarterly events instead of three.
This new Ascend event will take place in Florida in late January or early February and will give students the opportunity to create real impact through real-time, real-world projects.
If your student is in an Ascend Specialty Track©, they will have in-person study periods each day with their Track Instructor.
Capstone
As students cross the halfway mark of the spring semester, they will attend the fourth and final event of the Ascend year: Capstone.
Capstone is the culmination of the Signature Leadership Courses that all first year students complete and is held in the Colorado mountains.
Student’s Signature Leadership Course instructor, Dr. Jeff Myers, will attend live, present several lectures, run a live coaching and mentorship practicum, and engage with students over meals.
Click here to watch the recap video from the latest Capstone event!
Learn more about Ascend events
If you’d like to learn more about what your student could experience in these events and take advantage of the travel package offer, schedule a call with our admissions team.
David Rethemeyer is the Marketing Coordinator for Unbound. He was a homeschool graduate by age 16, earned his BSBA through the Unbound program, and finished his MBA from Missouri S&T by age 21. He specializes in branding, content marketing, and digital advertising.
In his spare time, David enjoys gaming with friends, going for long runs on the Katy trail, tinkering with his computer, coming up with Words of Wisdom (ask an Unbound student to explain) serving at his local church, and eating absurdly spicy chicken wings.