THE GREAT OUTDOORS
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in this
environmentally based program, |
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When John Simms was a younger man, he bounced around like a loose football. Simms, now president of Nantucket's Strong Wings Adventure School, just couldn't seem to find the laces on his future. A standout wide receiver and captain of the North Attleboro High School football team, he took a pass on football scholarships to Penn State, University of New Hampshire, University of Massachusetts, and University of Rhode Island. "I was in retreat mode," he says. "I was trying to find comfort in the world, trying to find myself. I was burned out." |
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Simms found safe haven at Bridgewater State, where he majored in history, later earning a master's degree in environmental education at Antioch College in Keene, New Hampshire. After graduating from Bridgewater, he recovered some of his earlier fumbles in life. He even tried out in 1985 as a wide receiver for several National Football League teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, and the New England Patriots. |
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But as the saying goes in football, when one hole closes, another opens. Simms never made any of the squads, but he eventually made his way to Nantucket, where he organized a town-funded program for troubled island youths - the Nantucket equivalent of an Outward Bound program. From then on he devoted his life to helping young people pick their way through an often-deceptive maze of choices, distractions, temptations, and challenges. |
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"I think the main reason the town hired me was because I could work with kids in crisis," he recalls. |
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Always one to reinvent himself and his dreams, Simms transformed the program in 1991 into a year-round nonprofit organization serving both Nantucket youths and summer visitors, ages 5 to 18, from all family backgrounds and demographics. He called his new venture Strong Wings Adventure School, considered today one of the finest environmentally based education and recreation programs in New England. It serves about 400 kids in the summer and offers adrenaline-rushing biking; kayaking in places like Polpis Harbor and off Madaket and Eel Point; rock-climbing a 25-foot, 360 degree climbing wall tucked into the woods; snorkeling the shoreline; exploring; swimming; and nature programs. |
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Individual classes meet once a week at Strong Wings' sprawling five-acre, pine-forested campus on Nobadeer Farm Road that houses an airy two-story, 3,500-square-foot post-and-beam lodge. The school has a trained, professional instruction staff, headed by Megan Oberg, a former student in the program, and a dedicated board of directors made up of prominent Nantucket business leaders. |
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"The main goal of the program," Simms says, "is to make a connection for the kids with the earth, and to subdue, at least temporarily, the crazy chaotic-ness that surrounds them all the time. Our hope is to bring young people back to the basics of life - the wonder and imagination of nature. We want them to see things they would not otherwise see. We want them to know there is something larger than life as they have known it." |
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Bess Clarke, a former student now on the Strong Wings board of directors, agrees. "Growing up on Nantucket 15 years ago, there wasn't a whole lot offered. Because my parents worked full-time, [Strong Wings] was a great opportunity to be introduced to climbing, hiking, and riding." After graduating from college, Clarke did Outward Bound, spent a year abroad in Kenya, and lived in California, where she developed an appreciation for snowboarding - all things she describes as being a "direct result" of the passion for the outdoors that she developed at Strong Wings. |
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Strong Wings programs, Simms says, are designed to foster self-esteem, problem solving, leadership skills, and the complementing and contrasting values of team building and individuality. Everyone - from the privileged to the disadvantaged - is open to positive change, he adds, noting that one of the best vehicles for self-improvement is accepting more responsibility for one's life and for one's decisions. |
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"The beauty of the school is that the kids choose their activity each day - what they like to do most," remarks the lanky 43-year-old Simms. "The kids love having the choice, and that makes them responsible for their own decisions." |
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The options at Strong Wings are many. The school each summer offers a special Kayaking Camp that takes advantage of the island's gentle harbors, tidal creeks, and freshwater ponds. The overnight Rock and Wave Camp is also popular, with its combination of camping, rock-climbing, kayaking, swimming, and snorkeling. |
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In the off-season, Strong Wings offers a comprehensive after-school program for Nantucket elementary school students and middle schoolers. Classes meet once a week in the fall, winter, and spring from 3pm to 5pm for environmental studies and plain old fun - hiking, kayaking, and rock-climbing. Strong Wings supervises all science, nature, and environmental programs at the private Nantucket Lighthouse School. |
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Once on the playing fields every day, Simms now spends much of his time pacing the sidelines - administering to Strong Wings' growing program and applying for needed grants. A self-effacing man, he is obviously pleased with the camp's progress during his 19-year tenure. He mostly looks forward, rarely back, with the recent exception of a faded postcard from an admirer that he received as a high school junior. It is from legendary Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, who was recruiting young Simms at the time. The greeting is as encouraging as it was prophetic. |
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"Keep up the good work," it reads. |
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That was one
coaching lesson Simms took to heart. |
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Greg O'Brien is a regular contributor to Cape Cod Life Publications. |
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© Strong Wings 2000-2008 |
