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by Nancy Obermeire Ten years ago, as an adult and mother of two toddlers, I went back to college to take some classes that I thought would help me with my job as a physical education instructor with the Chicago Park District. In the fall semester of 1986, I decided to take Adventure/Challenge Education at Northeastern Illinois University. The course sounded very interesting and very different. I was amazed how different it was. The people I met in the class were all from different walks of life and when we came together we were great. We worked together as a team, helping each other, encouraging each other and always watching out for each others' safety. Our three day weekend was the highlight of the class and all the great experiences we had. I watched not only myself grow and achieve what I thought were impossible goals, but our whole group working and growing together. What a learning experience, an opportunity for so many college students, some old, some young, to experience just what potential they have if they set goals and work to achieve them. In fact one student, June Mekley, was in her 50's and participated in all our experiences. Ten years later, I decided to take some classes that might help me with my job as a Supervisor with the Chicago Park District. I found a class that looked interesting. "Adventure Education Methods." Too good to be true. I have used a few initiatives from the books over the years but I always wanted to know more. This is an opportunity to learn how to be a facilitator for Adventure/Challenge Education. The class facilitator was Dan Creely and I was welcomed with open arms (what a relief, because I'm ten years older, and pretty old to be a college student). He introduced me as a gift, returning to learn more, that really made me feel pretty special. I was surprised to hear how the program has grown. Adventure/Challenge Education is being used to teach in many local schools in the Chicago area. Dan and his colleagues have worked very hard to spread the news about this method of educating children. The right people are finally listening, and it's about time because it is pretty obvious that the present system is failing to ensure strong responsible adults for the future. The Adventure Methods Class is great - learning new initiatives, trust and challenge activities. Best of all is having the opportunity to facilitate high school groups and even principals' conferences. The class is really giving me an opportunity to help learn more about facilitating small and large groups and adapting to whatever situation arrives. I had a great opportunity to try my new facilitating skills at work. A group of 45 Campfire Boys & Girls between the ages of 6 and 14 were having a sleep over at my park. The children come from the inner city neighborhoods of Chicago and north suburbs. Their backgrounds are as different as night and day, as well as their family income, environment, culture and race. This is what I call a challenge! What a great opportunity but I didn't even know where to start because of all the differences in this group. The never failing Moon Ball worked great as the kids started to come in and get settled. As the group grew larger so did the challenge number. I really thought I was off to a great start. Now most of the children are warmed up and ready to go. It's time for some name warm-ups. To some of the suburban kids it was like a culture shock. They couldn't understand what the other kids were saying and were very intimidated by this, when they attempted to make it around the circle with a name and a food they were pretty discouraged but the others chimed in and gave them some help. Some of the names I never heard of either so associating them with a food was a great relief for me too. The inner city children never backed down from any challenge. They were very aggressive no matter what age. The suburban children were starting to warm-up but I can tell they have a long way to go. Balloon Frenzy to the rescue. Things are looking pretty good now - the children are all helping each other and all the balloons are staying up. Oops, spoke too soon, now they are trying to blame someone every time they get a frenzies. Time out. I stopped and explained that all the balloons belong to everyone so you have to work as a team and communicate with each other to make this a success. One more try and all looks great from a facilitator's point. On to the balloon walk. All cooperated and they are slowly coming out of their little groups. I think I'm succeeding. The Campfire Group Leaders have to bring the children out to the campfire now for some planned activities. After their activities are completed I shared with the children the theory of the geese. Dan lent me his goose feather fan, with all the feathers in perfect condition, the small feathers blending into the large feathers with beautiful coloring. As I shared the fan with the children some of their little mouths just hung open. "Is that for real?" I explained how the younger children are small feathers that are growing and the large feathers are helping the small feathers and protecting them as they grow. The children were amazed about how the geese fly in formation to help each other. After this it was time for me to leave. The children were all screaming "Nuts, please don't go" (Nancy, nuts), but I knew their leaders had no other activities planned. This was a great opportunity for me and I felt so rewarded. On my way home all I could think about was how in such a short time that group had put away all their differences and had a great time. How simple this world could be if we could only look at it from the eyes of children.
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