Adventure In Adventure OutThe Launch – NORA Conference at UMASS Amherst
In mid-June, we ran a program for attendees of the NORA conference, which took place at UMASS Amherst. NORA stands for “North American Center for Research on Advanced Materials” and is a research initiative established by BASF SE, Harvard University, MIT, and UMASS Amherst. We wanted to put together something intriguing and thought provoking, but also fun. So with James at the helm, we ventured into the creation of a new activity called “The Launch”.
In this activity, participants are in small groups and tasked to put their heads together to create a catapult out of a variety of starting materials. They can gain access to more of certain types of materials by solving riddles and puzzles, gaining chips to spend at the materials store.
To start, the groups are given criteria for these catapults. There are rules that the catapults need to adhere to, and the participants are creating these devices with the goal of scoring the highest in four separate categories: Distance, Accuracy, Innovative Use of Resources, and Aesthetics. The groups can also gain more points by “selling” their product to the judges with a 60 second commercial, right before the launch competition starts.
Once the competition starts there are two rounds wherein the teams take turns launching their tennis balls as far as possible, followed by two rounds wherein they aim to launch their tennis balls as close to a target as possible. After that, the judges deliberate about the Innovation and Aesthetics, and the winner is crowned.
Working with the folks from NORA was a privilege; we saw so many clever innovations, and they rose to the challenge with fervor and a healthy competitive and playful spirit. This was our first execution of the Catapult Challenge, so we didn’t quite know what to expect – and we saw many different shapes and sizes of catapult, all of which used the resources in a unique way. The groups worked hard to gain more materials by coming to the puzzles station and working on brain teasers and riddles. Not to mention their commercials were hilarious. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought we were working with a theater group or a comedy troop.
The folks from the NORA conference really rose to the occasion and it was clear that they had a great time. We’re very much looking forward to doing more of this activity in the future.
Big Brothers Big Sisters on Summersville Pond
In April, Farlin and Eric went for a paddle with the Hartford Chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters on Summersville Pond in Summers Connecticut.
Farlin and Eric took them out during their first warm weather experience of the year. This particular crew was the core team of folks who have shown up to all big brothers big sisters programs we’ve done. There was a feeling of comradery and closeness that had been developing over the many months that we’ve been doing these programs with them.
Farlin and Eric have seen this particular group of kids really coming out of their shells and developing both confidence and competence in areas all across the board. During this program they put emphasis on taking on more of a leadership role by having the kids start off in the stern with the adults in the bow, where they had control over the direction of the boat. The kids were able to make decisions about where the group went and where they explored, and they all had a chance to get out of the boats into the water.
There was a lot of wildlife coming out of the winter fog. Specifically, they saw a ton of turtles… Like hundreds of turtles sunning themselves on logs on the side of the pond.
There was some sweet sadness and a feeling of parting because this string of programs with Big Brothers Big Sisters would be coming to an end soon, but they were talking about going to “yard goats” games together, outside of this their programming with AIAO.
Teamworks “Bag of Tricks” Training
On May 14th James and Farlin ran a program with Teamworks at their facility in Northborough, MA. Teamworks is an organization that runs indoor sports programming of many types – including boxing soccer and lacrosse to name a few. They also do traditional team building events for schools and businesses.
During this program we ran a staff training program for them, where we focused on bolstering the array of activities and skills that they use for their own delivery of team building programs. We call this our “bag of tricks” training. This particular group of participants have worked together before, some recently and some not for years – so this gave them a chance to reconnect and have their own team-building experience. Team-building for a team of team-builders
We had many activities up our sleeve, and offered them wide array to choose from. In this way, we were able to customize the program to meet them where they were coming from in terms of their background and experience in team-building. We were nimble and graceful like flying squirrels. A power to reckon with. Sting like a butterfly float like a beaver.
Overall, the nature of the program was very playful and it seemed to bring out a lot of joy and silliness. We’re big fans of encouraging adults release some of their inhibitions, allowing them to be their authentic, playful selves in a way that they may not regularly find time and space to explore.
James and Farlin really enjoyed themselves too. They had a lot of laughs, and felt a sense of accomplishment in seeing that the program served as a opportunity for the Teamworks staff to get closer to each other and to loosen up around each other at the beginning of this new season. This process also got them thinking outside the box in terms of new ways to connect with their participants. Below are a few pictures of the fun.
Warp speed – In this activity, participants are prompted to accomplish a task that includes a small yellow ball and physical contact between the ball and each individual as quickly as possible. There are specific rules that make this particularly challenge, and it really requires the group to work together and think outside the box to beat this challenge with warp speed.
Stargate – In this activity, everyone has to maintain contact with each other in a circle while they have to pass the entire group through the hoola-hoop. By putting them in close proximity to each other, while prompting them to funnel through a small aperture which got smaller after each successful attempt, we forced them to get closer and closer to each other in their space. We do this with to hopes helping people stretch their comfort zones. There was lots of laughter, an air of reunion and joy, and excitement about a new season.
Amherst College Outing Club – Knot Tying and Night Programs
For a while now we’ve been running short night-programs at Amherst College, consulting with the outing club as their advisors. We go to Amherst College and give them evening workshops four times a semester. These workshops involve outdoor skillsets that include: tarp construction/craft, hanging food to protect it from bears, knot tying, winter camping and adverse weather preparedness. During these workshops we aim to empower students to endeavor to adventure more safely and with more knowledge and self efficacy.
Recently, Farlin ran a knot tying workshop for the students. In a previous workshop where they had focused on tarp-craft and overall camp-craft, some students came to him saying that they felt deficient in their repertoire of knots – so they requested a workshop focusing on that.
This was an Indoor session, with ACOC members sitting around a table and practicing their knot tying skills together. They wen’t over clove hitches, bowlines, taught-line hitches, and truckers hitches. Farlin talked to them about the different uses and versitility of these knots, as well as their limitations.
Below you can see Farlin teaching one of the methods for tying a bowline knot, and some pictures of him tying a clove hitch around his finger.
The Bowline
The Clove
Amherst College Outing Club – Navigation Program
In April, Farlin led a whole-day navigation program with 5 Amherst College students from the Amherst College Outing Club. They took bearings and practiced triangulation using the Holyoke Mountain range, starting from the War Memorial at Amherst College
Amherst College War Memorial in the Summer
They ventured out into the surrounding woods to practice dead reckoning through the wilderness, following a single bearing. They also learned about taking and shooting bearings from a map, and determining back bearings. The students made mini orienteering courses for eachother and they took turns following them.
Here is a method that Farlin used to help the students understand how a topographical map translates to the actual landscape, showing the depth that may not be perceived by looking at the paper.
This is one of the ways that we teach visual learners how to interpret the vertical world (the actual mountains) into a horizontal one (the mountains as represented on topographical maps).
Amherst College Outing Club – Tracking Program
At the end of March, Eric and Farlin took Amherst College Outing Club out tracking in Montague. Starting along the side of the Connecticut river, the group saw beaver tracks, raccoon tracks, and mink tracks. They also saw wild turkeys making new tracks and lighting out in flight across the river. In the words of Farlin, “If you’ve never seen a turkey soar, you haven’t lived.” The substrate along the river was muddy and excellent for finding tracks.
For the rest of the day they tracked as many individual animal tracks as they could to see how long they could stay on their trail. They tracked a deer, a coyote, a squirrel, and a cotton tail rabbit in the sandy substrate of the glacial till in the Montague flats.
Farlin and Eric covered topics including: Stride, gait, weight distribution, the subtleties of identifying the difference between canine and feline tracks, and interpreting the movements and methods of local animals.
Throughout they day, as they learned and practiced their knew tracking skills, the students were able to take time to connect and get to know each other better.
Eric and the group spotting cotton-tail rabbit tracks
And some coyote tracks
Big Brothers Big Sisters Fire-making and Navigation – Winter 2018
Big Brothers Big Sisters is an organization that brings together adults with adolescents for 1-1 connection. These adults have chosen to regularly spend time with a teenager that they aren’t related to, with the goal of being a positive influence and mentor for them in their lives.
We’ve stepped in with Big Brothers Big Sisters to provide opportunities for the bigs and the littles to spend time together in an outdoor setting. This particular program gave them a chance to spend time bonding, and creating memories and meaningful experiences together, learning about navigation, fire-making, and overland navigation using compasses and topographical maps.
Eric & Farlin with a group of teenagers and their big brothers and big sisters. They were from the hartford area.
This girl has used a flint and steel to catch a spark and turn it into fire – this was her first experience creating fire from scratch
New Hingham Elementary School Chesterfield MA Team Building Program
Last week, Farlin & Eric facilitated a team building experience with the 5th grade class at New Hingham Elementary School! The students worked towards growing into their greatest potential as they move toward being the oldest students in the school as 6th graders.
During the activity shown in the picture, Farlin and the students co-created an agreement with the help of some creative nautical imagery! In the center of their circle was a drawing of a sailboat. The Front of sailboat represented what the students wanted to carry forward with them. The middle of the sailboat represented what they wanted to acknowledge as the essential make-up of their functioning group. The aft sail represented the things that they wanted to leave behind and move on from.
They also placed their fears and concerns into the water around the sailboat, representing the obstacles through which they would need to navigate as a team. Classmates offered suggestions about how to approach fellow classmates’ fears and concerns.
In this process they established a group agreement to bring forward with them into their transition to sixth grade.
Amherst College Women’s Lacrosse Team Building
Sarah and Danielle had a great time facilitating a team building program with the women’s lacrosse team at Amherst College last week.
The group worked through a number of engaging activities and had many successes. Here they are building up the team for the new season, working together to complete the helium stick challenge.
Wild Hearted Kids during April Vacation
We are thrilled to bring back a recently beloved program, Wild Hearted Boys, and introduce a soon-to-be-beloved parallel program of Wild Hearted Girls!
There is a new structural twist for the spring session in that it is an Adventure Week of 5 contiguous days during April vacation. (In the fall of 2015 we plan on returning to weekends spanning several months as a regular offering, with week longs every spring.)
Every day is different and ranges from caving and climbing to hiking, nature skills/connection and general woods tromping. We are excited to spend a week with these crews of local kids. The single-gender format provides a powerful vehicle for personal transformation, including the courage to be bold in new ways and the potential to create deep and lasting friendships. We had so much fun in past years building forts in the woods, descending into caves and having amazing conversations together.
See our Wild Hearted Programs tab for more details and to register. We so look forward to playing in the wilds with you!