Base Camp

Happy Fall! 

I have been spending a wonderful fall in the twin cities and it has been busy. Recently, I've been teaching swimming lessons, substitute teaching and guiding at the Boy Scouts' Base Camp. 

Base Camp is a wonderful place for me to be working. We work mostly with upper elementary and middle school students, however adult work groups often come to work on team building, base camp hosts award ceremonies and speakers, and of course boy scout groups come to Base Camp. I have been teaching many adventure education classes that I first learned to teach at Eagle Bluff including Rock Climbing, High Ropes Course, Archery and Team Challenges. All of these exciting classes ask students to challenge themselves, trust others and grow as individuals. 

I was recently asked to create a white board to help facilitate the introduction to our Rock Climbing class. As I was creating this I directly used techniques I learned at Eagle Bluff.  I focused on the key points and safety rules important to rock climbing. I included the plan for the day, both to help the instructors stay focused and to help participants understand what needs to happen before they can climb. My white board set up is going to be the new standard for what a classroom set up looks like at Base Camp.    

When school groups come to Base Camp and go rock climbing guides belay while students climb and spot each other. Here I am belaying: 

At Base Camp we practice challenge by choice. I tell students this means they have to challenge themselves but they get to pick what that challenge is. At the rock wall, some people are challenged by getting both feet off the floor, many go about half way up, and some make it to the top of the wall. No matter what their original goal was, I always focus on how far the students made it, how they challenged themselves and how proud of themselves they should be. Having this focus helps all students feel successful and have fun.

At base camp, my typical days look like this:

10:00 - 10:15 Welcome the whole group and play a game with the whole group

10:15 - 11:15 Team building (now split into smaller groups for the rest of the day and I stay with one group)

11:15 - 12:15 Rock Climbing

12:15 - 12:45 Lunch 

12:45 - 1:30   Rock Climbing

1:30 - 2:15     Capture the Flag (combining two small groups) 

2:15 - 3:05     Archery

3:05 - 3:15     Reflection/ Send-off

Have I sparked your interest in Base Camp? Check out the web site: 

http://www.explorebasecamp.org/