Tamara Griffith
Adventure's Unlimited Field Trip
"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself."
~ Henry Ford
Throughout the school year, my 8th grade leadership students, also called the Pirate Krewe, learn about a variety of skills, characteristics, and habits that make leaders effective, inspiring, and transformational. Although students practice and apply this knowledge in a variety of ways within the classroom, I wanted to provide my leadership students with access to an opportunity that would allow them to apply these skills, characteristics, and habits in a new setting, which would thereby facilitate students' ability to transfer their knowledge and skills.
After having gone to Adventure's Unlimited for a camping trip, I realized that it could offer my leadership students access to a variety of new experiences and opportunities. As indicated previously, many of my students have never been outside of our small city of Fort Walton Beach, and even more of them had never been camping. Located almost 60 miles outside of our town, Adventure's Unlimited offered my students not only an opportunity to reinforce the habit of responding with wonderment and awe, but also by participating in the challenge course, my students would be able to reinforce their leadership skills and apply several of the Habits of Mind. Having realized the unique opportunity this place offered my students, I sought approval from my administration so that my students would be able to take advantage of this (literally) outside opportunity.
Prep Work
Once I had submitted the required proposal and received permission from my administration to take my Pirate Krewe students on this retreat to Adventure's Unlimited, the true planning began. I began this planning process by notifying my Pirate Krewe parents of my intention to take students on this overnight adventure. A copy of the letter sent home to parents is included below.
Once parents had been notified, I began orchestrating the event with the staff at Adventure's Unlimited. After making a variety of phone calls and sending emails back and forth, the dates and events were confirmed. Samples of these correspondences are included below.
Once the ropes course and the cabin had been requested, my students planned and executed a school dance to raise money to ensure that all of my leadership students had access to our Pirate Krewe retreat. Since students were able to raise $1187 for the school dance, there was but a minimal fee for students to attend this field trip. Even still, there were several parents and teachers who volunteered to pay the remaining balance for any Pirate Krewe student who wished to attend, but couldn't afford it. As a result, all of my Pirate Krewe students were able to take advantage of this unique opportunity. The unique experiences offered through this trip are explained in further detail in the itinerary sent home with students below.
In order to take advantage of the fact that many of my students have never seen a forest, much less been in one, I created a scavenger hunt for students to complete in the woods surrounding our cabin. Students sought to find as many different items on the list as they could in teams of 3-5 within thirty minutes. A copy of the scavenger hunt list provided to students is included below.
Images from the Adventure's Unlimited Field Trip
Attending the Pirate Krewe Adventure's Unlimited retreat presented my students with access to a wide-range of brand new opportunities: staying in a cabin, camping, making s'mores, hiking a trail, and completing a low- and high- ropes challenge course. Images from students' many adventures are included in the slideshow below.
Student Surveys
Seeking to procure feedback from my students about this access opportunity, I had them complete surveys regarding this experience. Samples of their feedback are included in the sample surveys below.
After reading students' survey responses, it was clear that students wanted this field trip to be longer; they wanted to take advantage of more of the opportunities that Adventure's Unlimited had to offer -- zip-lining, hiking, canoeing -- that we did not get a chance to experience during our short stay. Thus, it is clear this experience opened doors for students; not only were they able to build their leadership skills, but they were also able to connect with Mother Nature and become interested in outdoor experiences, experiences to which they would not have otherwise been exposed.
Teacher Reflection
Prior to researching and planning this access opportunity for my leadership students, I had not considered camping to be a middle- to upper-class past-time. However, the conversations with my students regarding this opportunity quickly reminded me that access to such opportunities relies on a variety of factors. Because Adventure's Unlimited is so far away from many students' homes, many of them lacked the reliable transportation necessary to get there; even more of them lacked the financial means to reserve even a tent camping space or participate in the experiences, such as zip-lining, kayaking, and ropes courses, offered at this facility. As a result, this retreat presented many of my leadership students with a once in a lifetime opportunity to explore the great outdoors while applying their leadership skills and habits of mind.
Having the chance to stay in a cabin widened students' outlook on the world; they were able to see, some for the first time, nature unrestricted by shopping centers, gas stations, and other man-made constructions. While most were out of their comfort zone, it was truly amazing to see students gradually warm up to not having cell phone service and enjoy the nature and the company around them. Many students were even later inspired to try camping and hiking in some of the parks and trails located closer to home.
By researching and exposing students to an opportunity so vastly different from their lives in Fort Walton Beach, I was able to provide an eye-opening experience for students. Students became more curious about the world, wanting to investigate more about how humanity and pollution truly affected nature. As students explored this environmental issue, they were able to develop their advocacy and leadership skills so that they could take initiative to further their own education and research potential career avenues to increase their potential impact.