Finding Your Learning Zone

The spirit of adventure, too, the camaraderie, and, of course, the fun.

Why else, then, would you climb step by step into the clouds (or so it seems)?

Why else would you walk on planks suspended high above the ground, supported only by wires, harnesses, and carabiners?

Why else would you allow yourself to be elevated to a height as high as 35 feet, only to be released and swing pendulum-like through the air?

Welcome, folks, to the Stephen P. Adamson Jr. ’92 Ropes Course on Collegiate’s North Mooreland Road campus as we visit with instructors, counselors, and 17 Middle School-aged campers who participated the past two weeks in the Summer Quest program entitled Ropes Course and Leadership Skills.

On this toasty morning, I first encountered Mary Katherine Brost, a rising sophomore who served as a counselor.

What do kids find enjoyable about this camp? I asked.

“The adrenaline of it all, definitely,” she replied.  “They love that. And the challenge of being so high and making it to the platform after completing one of the more difficult obstacles.”

Have you sensed any anxiety? I inquired.

“When they’re on the ground, they think it’s a lot easier than it actually is,” she said.  “Sometimes they get up there and think, I can do the third level. They step on it and go, Nope, and they go down to the first.”

“I think it’s both,” she said. “It’s all mental.  I always assure them that they’re never going to fall and that they’ll get through it and feel a lot better about themselves when they actually complete it.”

I inquired of Niko Hough, a rising Collegiate 5th grader, about his motivation for participating in the program.

“Probably the leadership,” he said. “I’ve always tried to push myself.”

 Is any of this scary? I asked.

“To me, there’re two scary parts,” he said. “One, where you go up, you don’t really get the sense of how high you are until you actually step onto the platform. The second thing is when you’re transitioning with your lobster claws (carabiners), it always feels like you’re going to take a wrong step and fall off, but you’re always secure because one’s always going to be on (the wire).”

Brad Cooke, who oversees the summer program along with his colleague Michael Brost, is the director of Outdoor Collegiate.

“We use the ropes course in ways that facilitate different lessons in leadership,” Cooke explained. “We basically use the low ropes as a way to work on group dynamics and leadership and communications skills, listening skills, and problem-solving skills. Then we use high course as a way to push ourselves out of our comfort zone and into our learning zone without getting into our panic zone. 

“For some kids, that means they can run up on this thing all day long and it doesn’t faze them at all so we find ways to challenge them. They might do things with their eyes closed or blindfolded with a partner or do things in a different order to get themselves to recognize what they’re capable of. For some people, it means getting up to the first level and taking one step out.  We try to meet the kids where they are. When we’re up in the air, it’s a very individualized experience. When we’re down on the ground, it’s a very collective group experience.”

What attracts kids to this to this program? I asked.  
  
“It’s interesting,” Cooke replied. “If you watch kids up on the course, some are (moving easily). Some are very cautious. They decided they wanted to come out and challenge themselves a little bit. On a ropes course, you learn lessons about yourself. That’s where Michael and I try to build curriculum (geared to) the actual experience while still making the camp fun.”

What do they learn about themselves? I asked.
 
“That they’re capable of a lot more than they thought you were,” he said. “Our challenges on the ground get progressively more difficult every day. They’re finding themselves challenged in ways I don’t think they thought they’d be challenged.”

Seems like there’s a lot of mutual encouragement going on, I said.
   
“Very much so,” he said. “We do things in the air where they guide other campers through different elements so they have to rely on each other. When we’re doing our ground challenges as a group, you can’t complete the challenge unless your group is on the same page, you develop your plan, and you analyze your past failures. All of that requires them to lean on each other, to borrow each other’s skill set, to recognize what they bring to the table as well.
      
The ropes course was off limits during most of Covid. I commented. I bet it’s good to be back in action.

“Fantastic,” he said.” I’ve been maintaining the course. It was a lonely place to be up there by myself for a year, so to be back, first with my staff and now with campers is really special.”

Even on a hot summer day?
  
“It’s 100 degrees,” he said. “Everyone’s sweating, but everyone’s smiling. I think that’s the sign of a good program.”
~Weldon Bradshaw