I am back from a 22 day open enrollment course with Outward Bound. It was my first course, and it was an utter education. I was a part of a co-leader trio, and my co's were supremely experienced and supportive. The course had 11 students on it and while the trip was expedition (backpacking) based, we had technical skill blocks for rock climbing and white water canoe as well. I loved the opportunities to push my technical skills in all 3 realms, as well as to face real challenges in the area of student and behavior management. This trip helped to lay a strong base for me as it was just the start of my Outward Bound career. I am having trouble finding further words to accurately explain anything. The fact of the matter is that I'm still processing and even if I had more articulate words, others won't possibly understand. This is common, to not know how to share, and further if someone says "oh how was it!?" you say "it was so amazing I had a great time!" But that one short sentence response contains a robust monthlong of experiences that you couldn't possibly convey in passing so you just keep it to the short "it was great!" So, without any photos, I am struggling to decide how to share how my course instructing at NCOB has been. I've decided that I ought to use the detailed and dedicated journal that I've been keeping, so I am going to share 2 entries that help to convey some of the thoughts and feelings that are hard to articulate. I write in this journal every night, a full page, as I know how important journaling can be to the reflective part of the experiential education process. Plus, I enjoy it. So without further ado, here's a peer in. Anything in bold is something I added for this post for clarity. 6/11/2019 Today was huge. Every day is f****** huge. Layover at Victor's place after 3 days of rain. In the morn, we sent the students on a 3hr solo (alone reflection time) and we did feedback and planned for the day. Desired outcomes for the day were group culture & task initiative. Lessons were Identity Tree (an intro to diversity activity), TMF Cards (TMF stands for training, main, final- the progression we follow on course. The cards help students visualize what they need to work on), and 5 basic needs (an introduction to Choice Theory). Outcomes were achieved. Students really opened up and were engaged with everything. They appreciated the time to decompress and be a bit more heady. TMF Cards was magical, it really made it clear to them what needs to happen for them to achieve a final, and already by the end of the day, evening flow was almost entirely self-sufficient. Hearing the group decision processes and GPT's (a tool for time management, stands for goal, plan, time) evolving had me beaming with pride. Multiple times I legit felt a tear in my eyes, it's so magical. We are 4 days in and I can see how this is helping the students expand their comfort zones and rise to new challenges. I learned as much today as they did. I'm really starting to grasp TMF and I am so moved by everything that's happening on this course so far. My co leaders are AMAZING to work with. I'm learning a f*** ton and having so much fun. Helps that it was sunny and 75 today too. Love my job! 6/26/2019 Full day of final expedition. Up at 9 (glorious) and out of camp at 12:15 (lol). Final expedition is dope cuz the instructors just get to hike 20ft behind the group and chat about the group/ what's going on/ anything else. One of my co's talked a lot about at-risk programs and training and tools you use there and how that can translate to general enrollment courses. We talked a lot about how we may have done things differently on this course, given what we know now. For example, what lines would we have placed and held firm with regarding exclusivity and/ or toxic conversations. I learn so much just from talking through all that with my co leaders. The group walked straight past our campsite for the night at 6:45pm, and after much ado we finally arrived there at 9:25pm LOL gotta love final (on final expedition we do not let the students know when they are wrong, we let them figure it out). I'm tired, but really enjoyed backpacking today. Here is the only photo I took all course. It was taken on our multi pitch day, 2/3 of the way up the side of Table Rock Mountain, from the "lunch ledge". My co leader was beginning to climb the final pitch while I waited at lunch ledge for the last of our students to arrive with their climbing specialist. I decided my spicy leggings needed to be recorded. Not a bad pic. Overall, things are going incredibly well, I am so happy with my work and my lifestyle. My next course is a 9 day course that leaves on July 6th. I am looking forward to tons more learning, fun, and challenge. From May 8 until June 1 I was involved in various trainings with the North Carolina Outward Bound School. With only 3 days off in this whole time period, I learned an unbelievable amount. First I went on a 2.5 week, expedition based, New Staff Training (NST). NST was with a group of 12 new staffers and 2 trainers. Next, I moved on to base camp specific training, at my new home of Table Rock base camp. Finally, everyone congregated at the other mountains base camp at Cedar Rock for an all staff training. This may be a wordy post, mainly because I have basically no photos from the NST portion of the month. Part of the experience was understanding the student experience, so I did not have my phone or a camera with me. Additionally, before I begin, I must clarify the different areas that NCOB operates in. We have two mountain bases, at Table Rock and Cedar Rock, as well as two Florida bases, in Scottsmoor and Everglades City. Florida is home to many of our at-risk courses. We also run sea kayaking in the Outer Banks, as well as alpine backpacking and service trips to the Patagonia Range in South America. I personally will be working only NC mountains courses, but it's important to understand the breadth of this organization. New Staff Training- Cedar Rock course area NST was quite the experience. It's honestly hard to communicate exactly what it was for me. I may think that I know now, but the truth is I will be processing NST for years. I'll be processing all of this for years. The best I can do right now to share is to simply explain what we did, and understand that there's a lot I can't explain which is totally alright. So, on its basic level NST is a time for new instructors to become familiar with the systems NCOB uses on its courses, as well as the educational frameworks that we follow in developing these courses. We were introduced to the tarp, kitchen, and bathroom systems, while at the same time learning about the Outward Bound curriculum. This training took place on one course. We started off with 4 days of backpacking in the Pisgah National Forest. It rained for the first 3 days non stop, it was pretty miserable in that sense. But everyone is super capable and positive and we still had a ton of fun, including a monstrous bushwhack on our 3rd day. Bushwhacking, or as we call it, bush pushing, is an integral part of the expedition. It's a great opportunity to practice orienteering and self reliance. Our mileage each day was pretty small, we were doing lessons all throughout the day which were the main focus of the training. Each person in the group taught a lesson and got feedback. Topics included navigation skills, clouds and weather, experiential education cycle, Leave No Trace. I taught my lesson on leadership styles, and ran the group through a No-Doz Leadership activity. Every night of expedition someone in the group shared their "10 minute bio" which would always be more than 10 minutes. It was so cool to hear everyone's life stories, and to get so deep so soon after just meeting. This NST group is my cohort, and for as long as I'm in this program these are my day 1 people. We had a ton of amazing shared experiences that make me excited for what else the future holds. After the backpacking portion we went on our river technical skills block. This consisted of 3 days of whitewater canoeing. We paddled the Tuckasegee River and had no rain all 3 days. I had previous flat water canoe experience but this was my first time on whitewater. It was a great new challenge and I look forward to building my comfort and skills with it this season. One great thing about working for NCOB is the professional development days. Pro dev days, as they're called, are technical clinics throughout the season run by our specialists. I anticipate going on as many pro dev days as I am able. Following river block was a few days of workshops in the woods, doing mostly workshops on behavior management as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion. After this was our rock climbing technical skills block. We followed a 3 day progression that build us up to a multi pitch climb on the 3rd day. Each pitch is one length of the rope, so a multi pitch climb is a really long climb that requires you to stop at anchor points and belay up the second climber. After that you begin the second pitch. If that didn't make sense, and you're at all curious, I highly recommend the Netflix documentary Dawn Wall which shares the story of an inhuman big wall multi pitch climb completed at Yosemite by Tommy Caldwell. Anyway, I climbed my first multi pitch at the end of this rocks block!! This was a huge goal of mine and something I've been wanting to do for like two years. I look forward to many more this season. The last few days of our training trip were super cool. First we did a personal challenge event, which is a 7 mile trail run where you compete against yourself. It speaks to our pillar of physical fitness. We also did the ropes course at Cedar Rock base camp, which is something we will work into courses. At the end we had a huge gear deissue and feedback session. NST was a great introduction to this amazing organization and its systems. As I go on my first trips, I will learn more in detail the planning process. For now I feel like I have a strong base of both technical and Outward Bound specific knowledge to begin my journey as an Assistant Instructor in this organization. Base Camp Specific Training - Table Rock Base Camp Table Rock base camp is the original base camp of the North Carolina Outward Bound School. The land was leased to us by the US Forest Service, it is prime location, sitting at the base of some of the best rock climbing in the southeast. Morning meeting for the first day of base camp training met at the summit of table rock. One of the options for getting there was to do a multi pitch climb, which I was stoked to take advantage of. The rest of base camp training was set up to help orient us to base. We had a long scavenger hunt that had us running all around the camp, we also had a tour and introduction to the high ropes course here (compared to the one at the Cedar Rock base camp). In just 2 days, I suddenly knew like 30 more people and knew my way around my new home. Base camp training was like a warm up though, for the all staff training that would come next. All Staff Training - Cedar Rock Base Camp All Staff training was 3 days long. The first two days had speakers in the morning and workshops in the afternoon. Speakers included presenters from each of the departments at our Town Office, the administration folk (carpetwalkers). It was cool to hear about the history of this organization, its status and goals, and current projects. There were many options for afternoon workshops, but I ended up choosing to get my epinephrine certification (I had to choose this one because it is my first year) on the first day, and a workshop on behavior management on the second day.
Finally after hearing so much about the greater NCOB community on NST and during base camp split training, I got to see everyone together and start to really understand the dynamic. There were 110ish people in the dinner circle on the first night, that's pretty much everyone except for some folks down in Florida who had programs soon. Everyone was so inclusive and unique and cool to talk to. Not that I expected any different, but being at all staff training after a long month of training made me feel like I was finally in, with everyone. The Summer Ahead My first trip begins prepping on June 6th, and it is a 22 day general enrollment trip. We will have both a river and rocks technical skills block. After that I have two 9 day trips then two 5 day trips. In between all of these courses there is down time with lots of hiking and climbing and reading to be done, with no particular sense of urgency on my part. I am super excited to get into actually being on course, after such a long time of training. It is for sure though, that I have found my place here at NCOB and look forward to serving its students and mission. |
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