Youth Leadership Trip
When I think back on our trip, I can only smile. I think about my group the
most. I don’t think I have ever bonded, or experienced this kind of chemistry
with any other group of people in my life. When we are all out in nature,
you really cant pretend to be someone you are not. No showers, no makeup, it's
just your own raw personality, and 10 other real people. There was nothing
fake about any of us on our trip. There is no space for that, and each
situation is so complex that no matter how hard I tried, the me that I try
to stuff down a lot of times came out. I was so amazed of how HAPPY I was
throughout the ENTIRE trip. I was so blown away by how I could shine in hard
situations, or how I ignored barriers that used to stop me. Because of this
attitude I was allowing myself to get to know other people better, and get
to know myself better.
When I first heard that we were canoeing and backpacking, I was really happy
to get to go canoeing. I look back and I see that the real togetherness of
our team occurred when we were backpacking. On the trail, our team was much
more present with each other, physically and mentally. Everyone was
constantly aware, and taking into account how everyone else was feeling. We
talked a lot more, and could enjoy each other's company a lot more than on
the river. Because everyone was so much more challenged on the trail with
things like having to deal with slow movers, or having to bear extra weight,
or just plain tiredness, even more I could see peoples real self, and my
real self. Everyone's barriers are just so knocked down, and so much heart to
heart goes on. I know us girls always talked late at night, and our most
awesome, meaningful talks were nights we thought we would drop dead from
tiredness, but our hearts were so open. Even the night in between our two
hiking push days we were up past two in the am talking, knowing we had to go
11 more miles the next day, but what is more precious than a real
heart-to-heart.
One super super awesome memory is repelling down to my group on that last
day, and seeing their beautiful, lazy, tired faces watch me come down.
Everyone was just happy and I love that day so much. Everyone came to
appreciate and respect, and care for everyone else. If something needed to
be done, I loved to do it to serve my group and everyone would help together
and man, I just love them.
 Now that we are back in the real world, it's hard to talk and make it the
same. So much changes in people when there are worries to bog them down. Out
there, one persons worries were everyone's worries. How to find the camp
site, or lets get everyone fed fast enough to make it out of here in time..
But at home that plastic self comes out again. I smile when I'm gloomy, or I
Don’t share with my family what's on my mind. When I call people from the
trip, I can see how they are so different away from the trail. Sometimes I
think it's best to not take any pictures, and not keep in touch, so that
every memory can be exactly how you want it, and not defined to a small
picture. -Sometimes I see a picture of an awesome time and I think was that
it?? Or now that I have talked to everyone after the fact, I think of them
more of how they are away from our trip, than how they were when I was with
them. Bottom Line: I Love My Group So Much!
Thank You so Much for bringing the most awesome people ever together, and
that I could be part of it.
Thank you.
Monica Scott.
Inspiring Action through Leadership
Outward Bound Urban Centers – Baltimore Chesapeake Bay and Philadelphia
When I instructed the C.M.Wright High School sophomores on their fall canoe course our curriculum journal was our third instructor. These students, all members of the C.M. Wright’s Outward Bound Club, pride themselves on high levels of compassion, sensible self denial and craftsmanship. These students are excited to take morning dip in any weather! At the start of the course, we presented this challenge,
“Using this journal as your primary resource complete every task and activity we present to you during this five day course. As your instructors, we will be here to ensure safety guidelines are followed and from today until the end of this course we will answer only three questions. Use your questions wisely.”
Excited at the prospect of facilitating their own course, we gave the group a take out location, a job chart and an overview of daily expectations. They were ready. On the first night we stayed at base camp having completed the high ropes course earlier that day. Already becoming a cohesive group, they began planning their next steps. They agreed that the “teachers” for the day would teach the first important lesson after dinner. Researching the journal, they settled on these lessons: basics of canoeing and goal setting. Using the journal’s curriculum, they were able to plan for many successful days on course and had a definitive resource when they needed alternatives. They practiced giving effective communication and learning all of the knots. They worked hard to develop their leadership abilities and gain new skills.
On the last day we ‘shipwrecked’ the group on a small island in the Potomac River. They were left with a tarp, rope, some food, ensolite pads, sleeping bags, and their journals. Hidden in the brush we watched them sort through their remaining ‘resources.’ The first thing they did was panic and everyone began talking at once. They didn’t know where they would sleep and knew well that in late November the nights are cold. The leader of the day took control of the group and asked if anyone had useful suggestions. One student chimed in, “I think I saw something about a tarp as shelter in the journal.” He found the page and soon half of the students were on their way to building what was to be one of the most finely constructed tarp shelters I had ever seen. Other students prepared dinner, secured canoes, and chose quotes for chow circle. In a short time, everything was done and they circled together evaluating themselves as a group and as individuals. They took turns exchanging feedback and discussing personal goals and how to support each others’ goals when they returned to school. With a tear in my eye, I realized, “They did it on their own.”
Based fundamentally on Kurt Hahn’s philosophy as manifested in the Four Pillars, the Baltimore Chesapeake Bay and Philadelphia Urban Centers intentionally developed this unique course curriculum to serve as a guide for our students – on course and long after the end of course. Using this teaching method with high performing students allowed them to guide their own exploration and gave them tools for success. In the end, they never used two of their allotted questions; they quickly realized their own capabilities. The one question they did ask was on the first day - they asked “Where is the camp spot?” My answer, “I don’t know, that’s up to you; this is your course.”
Common threads taught on all Outward Bound courses combine in these journals provided for every student on course in the Mid-Atlantic. Not every course follows the C.M. Wright expedition plan; however, we know that every group of students benefits from learning leadership skills.
“Hi, my name is Kurt Hahn.” reads the opening page of the journal 8th graders from Overbrook Educational Center will be using on their backpacking course this spring. Kurt Hahn and the Outward Bound gang guide them through their leadership lessons and encourage them to think beyond their course, transferring their new found leadership skills to their lives at home. Based on Outward Bound concepts taught for decades on most courses, our Mid-Atlantic instructors use these journals as tools to support their teaching. Students use the journals as resources to share their experience with their peers and refer to in the future. Teachers use the journals to further Outward Bound’s educational lessons back inside their classrooms.
Our courses are designed to build leaders. Our students know their communities as well as any adult. Our challenge is to give them the necessary tools to support their work. We want our students to become leaders in their schools and communities. They want to become leaders in their schools and communities. Together we see our schools, communities, and families strengthening. We measure their success through pre- and post-course evaluative assessments. We know that our students lead the way by volunteering at soup kitchens, cleaning the city’s parks and streets, achieving in school and creating anti-violence teams. It is now up to them to foster positive change and to enhance what they will soon inherit.
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