Building Confidence Early On

March 17, 2005

Inquirer and Mirror Newspaper Article
 

Photos by Joel Silverstein

On Tuesday morning, a group of young Lighthouse School students lined up next to the navy blue van from Strong Wings Adventure School in the Lighthouse parking lot.

It's as big as a whale," said one student.

"No, it's as big as a shark," said another. Strong Wings senior educator Megan Oberg buckled in each child, and pointed the van in the direction of the long driveway into the State Forest. There, with Oberg's guidance, the group of 3- to 5-year-olds worked together to build a fort out of fallen limbs and bark.

Team-building is a major tenet in Strong Wings' education philosophy. The school has expanded from its start as a "youth-at-risk" program in 1986, to a full-fledged nonprofit adventure school, housed in a 3,500 square-foot oak-beamed building complete with a library, a classroom and a full commercial kitchen the school uses during its summer camps. On the grounds, the school maintains a mountain bike track and a 25-foot climbing wall on their campus off Nobadeer Farm Road.

Now, Strong Wings is seeking to strengthen its team-building education capabilities with a four-element, low-to-the-ground ropes course accessible to younger children. To build the course, Strong Wings will need to raise $60,000 by the beginning of the summer, executive director John Simms said.

"It's something we've planned from the get-go," Simms said. "We've definitely got a battle ahead of us, but we're going for it." The capital campaign for the school's new facility has been ongoing since 2000, when Strong Wings moved to Nobadeer Farm Road. A ropes course was part of the original plan, Simms said.

Simms hopes to be done with the construction of the course and implement its elements into the Strong Wings curriculum by next fall. Two of the four elements of the course will be used by 7- to 9-year-olds, and the others will be geared toward older students.

Ground was broken on an aerial ropes course in Dead Horse Valley in March 2002 by the Park and Recreation and Nantucket Police departments in part to benefit Strong Wings' programs. But what started as a misunderstanding between neighbors and Police resulted in the course being torn down a year after it was built.

The new ropes course will be on Strong Wings' property, Simms said, and will be a low-to-the-ground, safer version.

Oberg, who is in her sixth year as an educator at Strong Wings, said the addition of a ropes course will benefit the school's curriculum in several ways.

"I think it's a great team-building project," she said, "and on an individual basis, it allows the opportunity to face fears. It's a personal challenge as well." Oberg expects her group of eight Alternative School students from the high school will benefit from the ropes course as well. She's set up temporary ropes "traverses" to challenge Alternative School students in the past, she said. A permanent course would help in planning team initiatives.

With her 3- to 5-year-old group Tuesday, Oberg helped students stack tree limbs and place bark and pine needles on top of their fort to keep out rain and snow. When the group was done, all 13 students, Oberg, and two Lighthouse School teachers crawled into the fort.

"When you guys crawl out, make sure you look up and see all the work that you've done," Oberg said.

By Joel Silverstein : I&M Staff Writer

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