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Strong Wings works with teachers and administrators to design and implement team-building programs for all 5th through 8th grade public school students. These programs challenge students to solve problems as a group, learn to respect each others' ideas and opinions, develop new relationships, and build a sense of community. Students enrolled in the public school’s alternative program meet with Strong Wings instructors several times a week. The alternative program is comprised of middle and high school students who may not find success in the traditional classroom setting. These students’ teachers associate the students' participation in Strong Wings programs with marked improvement in their behavior and academic productivity.
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These programs are a clear demonstration of the value of giving students the opportunity to learn about themselves and each other outside the walls of the school. Working in an outdoor setting inspires students and provides an environment where their energy, which can oftentimes be a distraction in the classroom, can be expended toward positive ends. It also provides a new context in which students can challenge and break free from previously established social roles and limitations.
Strong Wings assists Nantucket Behavioral Health Services, a non-profit agency that serves the community through a wide verity of counseling services, and members of the Nantucket High School faculty in the training of peer-to-peer counselors. The peer-to-peer counseling model has proven to be very successful in other schools and is making a positive impact on the high school’s students and culture. We also provide the venue for Nantucket Behavioral Health’s Friday night teen “coffee house” events. These events provide a safe, drug-free environment for young people to spend time together, make new friends, and connect with positive adult role models from the community.
Strong Wings works with 4th through 8th grade students at the Nantucket New School three times a week. The Nantucket New School is an independent coeducational days school, which serves pre-k through 8th grade students. Students kayak, rock climb, explore various island locations, play cooperative games, and participate in a variety of teambuilding activities. We work with teachers at various grade levels to create excursions and activities to enhance the school’s natural science curriculum. Strong Wings also provides a variety of outdoor programming including kayaking, climbing, and ropes course programming for the Nantucket Lighthouse School.
We work with children from each of the island’s schools, as well as from the home school community, in our after school programs. Our after school students, who are usually not involved in sports or other extracurricular activities, are exposed to a variety of outdoor activities, engage in vigorous physical activity, and get the opportunity to make new friends.
