Adventure In Adventure OutRaft Building With CISAbroad
This summer I had the good pleasure of working with a team from a company called CISAbroad. CISAbroad is an organization that works to provide students with the opportunity to study abroad, with an array of countries to choose from. Their mission is “to provide innovative education programs that broaden academic perspectives, promote global awareness, and encourage personal development while laying the foundation for participants to become engaged world citizens.”
With this group of 13 we delivered an enhanced version of our Raft Building Challenge. Upon arrival, we found a nice place in the shade to present the parameters of the competition, and split them into smaller groups. These individual groups were given a limited amount of time to build rafts out of the materials that we provided. Once the time started, they were able to solve puzzles and riddles in order to earn more materials for their raft if they felt like they needed more of a certain kind of material.
Once they had constructed their designs, the groups were challenged to paddle their newly crafted rafts out to a designated point on the water, and then paddle back. The goal was to do this as fast as possible.
When they all arrived back to shore, the second phase began. This is where we deviated a little bit from our usual format – with an older group, we decided we could give them an advanced challenge that would help them grow as a whole team. Rather than just continuing to work together in small groups, we challenged them to work together to find a way to combine all of the rafts they had built and create one big “we’re all in this together” boat that could hold everyone.
Once they felt like they had a sturdy vessel, they went on an all-in-one-boat voyage out onto the water.
Having the day end with an experience where they all worked in a non-competitive group environment put more emphasis on the transition from their day problem solving with AIAO to their return to the work environment, where they would all be working together as a team at CISAbroad.
This program went very well, and on a personal level for me, it was a real joy to work with this group. They were a very high functioning team, and it was exciting to see a group who was so enthusiastic about jumping in full and headlong to work as a team to accomplish a challenging task, using their creativity and ingenuity to create something new together.
Thanks CISAbroad!
