Introduction-This was my trip to outdoor education. I had a very exciting and a good learning experience. I hope I will do this again sometime. Enjoy reading my little journal that summarized my journey in Snake River Adventure Center in Lake Geneva Wisconsin!!!
This is the Map of the Adventure Center
Day 1
Dear Journal,
Today was my first day of outdoor education. It all starts at home, packing. I have to pack all of my things according to the sheet that my homeroom teacher (Mr. Ogden) gave me. I had to get three days worth of clothes, bathroom essentials, and etc. After I was all packed up I started to head downstairs and eat a big breakfast because we were not going to eat lunch for a while. I then left for school. Once I got there I left all of my belongings next to a pile of others and walked into school when told to. To pass time, the teachers brought the whole sixth grade together to watch a movie. In my opinion it was kind of boring because I have watched Finding Nemo about a thousand times. Just as we were watching the lights flicked on and the movie turned black and at hat moment I knew that it was time to go. We all walked to the main hallway and got into our assigned groups. My counselors were Mr. Thirston and Mr. Kolcz. We were allowed to go on any bus we want so I went on bus 1 with my friends, Kory and Noah. It was a long bus ride and we were bored. The first half of the ride was fun; we were listening to music while chatting about school and life. It was the other half that started to bore me.
Snake River Adventure Center
Dear Journal,
I woke up from the long bus ride. The bus came to a stop. We lined up in an orderly fashion and walked out the bus. I was really excited for what was ahead of me. We quickly divided into our assigned groups and went to our cabin. Our cabin was huge. We teased the girls because their cabin was about a forth of ours. But they had three cabins. I was in room C, which was upstairs. We unpacked our sleeping bags and ran downstairs and met with our team leaders. They gave us a bathroom break. The bathrooms smelled really bad so my friends and I had to hold our breaths and go to the bathroom. As soon as we go out we all headed straight for the big field where we played games involving team building. The first game was called brawl ball. The objective was to kick or throw the ball to the opposite side of the team. But there was a big human shield that blocked the ball. If the ball went through the people, the team that scored would get a point. This helped us with working as a team to win. The next game we played was called everyone is it. It was like tag except you can tag anyone. If you get tagged then if someone tags the person that tagged you, then you come back in. I had an alliance with Noah and Kory. This game helped us be independent and to rely on yourself. But in my case the three of us helped each other out like a wolf pack. The last game we played before lunch was called the blob. The objective of this game was to run away from a certain person and if you get tagged then you become attached to the person. This was just for fun. We had a great time doing all of these games.
Boys Cabin
Brawl Ball
Blob
Lunch
Dear Journal,
It was time for lunch. Before lunch we went to the carpet ball table. Carpet ball is a game. The object of the game was to knock the other person’s two or three balls into the gutter. When you win you become champion and keep playing until another person beats you. I wasn’t very good at that game but my friends loved it. They all were acting like it was a big deal. When lunch would start, a bell would ring and we would rush to the dining hall and eat lunch. During lunch we were able to receive seconds. But they didn’t allow us to drink soda. During or meal we had to first drink a glass of water before getting other juices. During lunch we were also able to get to know each other a lot better and we had a great time. The food was not bad. We had grilled cheese, chicken noodle soup, and dinner rolls. It wasn’t the best but it was really good for being food at a camp.
Carpet Ball
Lunch for Day 1
Team Building Activities
Dear Journal,
After lunch we went with our groups and went into separate activities. We were with two Snake River staff members and we were playing games that involved teamwork and loyalty. Before we got started, we talked about the five-finger rule. Each finger symbolized something. The pinky symbolized safety, the ring finger was commitment, and the middle finger was respect, the index finger was blame, and the thumb was to congratulate. We then hiked into the woods and stopped at a spot in the woods. Our first activity allowed us to focus and use teamwork. We had to throw couple of objects to each person and not drop it. We had a hard time focusing but sooner or later we got smart and rearranged the people so that we could lend the toy to them instead of tossing it. The next game involved having good timing and communication. We had to time it right and run-through the jump rope with a certain number of kids, and then we would have to run back and regroup to make a bigger number of people until we reached the last number of people. For an example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 people. We didn’t have enough people for 5, 6, and 7 so we had to use good communication to volunteer or keep in track of who is going to go again. Timing kicked in when we had to go through the ropes and onto the other side. The next game taught us to look outside of the box. They would put sticks on the ground in random order and you had to know what number the sticks symbolized. What we didn’t know was that they were showing with fingers what number the sticks were. The sticks were basically in a random order. The next game we played was a game where you had to get over an obstacle of “spider webs” (actually string) If you touched one of them you would have to tie a bandana on it and you can’t use it for the rest of the game. This helped us know to help others in need and help each other get through the obstacle course all together as a team. I thought the next one was the best and the most interesting. We had to blindfold a partner. Then you had to the person that was blindfolded get through the woods using clues. This helped us listen much better and emphasized loyalty. If you weren’t loyal then you will crash into a tree, or slip on a branch because of your friend. Finally we went to our last destination. This last game helped us work together to unlock the combination. We had three random numbers. We had to rotate simultaneously together to unlock the lock. The hard part was we couldn’t step off the circles and if we do, then we would have to start all over again. We had a very hard time. We were fighting and arguing but that wasn’t the way to go. We had to be calm and think things through to accomplish it. We decided to go slow and steady and finally accomplished it. I was so happy and everyone else was. We worked together as a team and finally got passed our goal. After we went through our team building we had to regroup with everyone.
Jump Rope Elevator
Indian Game
Spider Game
Some Journal Time
Dinner
Dear Journal,
It is dinnertime. For dinner we had spaghetti. We were allowed to have some soda because it was dinner, so I loaded up on soda to become hyper so I could stay up longer (even though I fell asleep at 12:00 AM. It was basically like what happened at lunch. We talked, laughed, and learned all together while eating a great dinner.
Dinner for Day 1
Relaxing Time
Dear Journal,
After dinner we were told that we could have relaxation time. So I went to my dorm and unpacked a lot of my supplies. I went to the carpet ball table later because I had nothing to do in my dorm.
Relay Races
Dear Journal,
We are at the gym right now. We divided into our groups and did various relay races. The prize was that which ever team won would get a big rice crispy treat. We were determined to get first place in the race. The first race we had to do was a regular relay. We got second place, but we still didn’t give up. We pumped up our teammates and encouraged them we could still win. The next race was a race that we had to carry an egg on a plate. This was all about balance and we won first place. That brought up all of the team and in the end we ended up winning first place. The rice crispy treats were delicious.
Relay Race
Our Team Wins
Dorm Time
Dear, Journal,
Everyone had a choice. We would either have to go on a night hike, or stay in our cabins for dorm time. I was a little tired so I decided to stay in the dorms with the rest of my friends. We went into other peoples cabin and socialized with each other, told jokes and played BS, poker, and black jack. We were dealing candy so whoever won a round everyone had to pitch in one piece of candy or anything else to the person who had won. We had a great time.
Lights Out
Dear Journal,
It is time to go to sleep but we secretly all stayed up until twelve o’ clock because we were all loaded on soda and candy. We talked and cracked jokes the whole night but finally we all fell asleep.
Day 2
Morning
Dear Journal,
I woke up at 5:45 today; I didn’t really have anything to do so I wrote in my journal. I was just sitting in my bed until about 6:00, and then I decided to go take a shower because nobody was up. It was a great idea because when Noah started to shower the water was cold. I then put on my clothes for the day and brushed my teeth and washed my face. I then started to play cards again with all of my friends. Every time we played we always laughed and had a really great time. Then we suddenly heard a knock, and then Mr. Henley came in and told us to brush up and then come outside and out to the carpet ball tables and the park. We were allowed to play there until breakfast started. For breakfast was a nice hot meal of eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast. I had it with a nice cup of hot chocolate. Delicious!
Entomology
Dear Journal,
It was time for our first lesson for outdoor education. Our first stop was at the entomology lab. As we entered it didn’t look much but we learned a lot of new things. We learned about the body and exoskeleton of a bug or insect and we saw dead bugs that the teacher incased for everyone to see. Entomology is basically the study of bugs. I did thing it was very tedious, the way the teacher was teaching us but at least we learned a little more about bugs. Towards the end of the class we made little candy bugs and we got to eat them. Mine looked really stupid and it didn’t look good to eat so while the teachers weren’t looking I tossed it in the trash.
Entomology
Orienteering
Dear Journal,
As we walk through the campgrounds, our next step was to go to orienteering, which by the way was a lot of fun. Mr. Ogden started teaching us about first how to use a compass and some background information. I learned a variety of things like how a loadstone, which contained magnate, was used as the first compass in china. During orienteering Mr. Ogden set up various things like following directions by using a compass and when he said he was finished you should have been standing right over the coin he gave you before you started. After we did those practice drills we had to pair up into partners of two and go through the woods and hunt for letters on trees. The only way to find the letter was to follow the hints the clues were giving. I personally thought that we were going to come in last but we actually came in second out of like six groups.
Orienteering
Survival Class
Dear Journal,
I thought orienteering was so much fun but what waited was far much better. (No offense Mr. Ogden) It was time for… Survival Class!!! I loved survival things since I was a kid and I knew this was going to be exciting. During this class, I didn’t learn a whole lot because I was already familiar with a lot of things because I watch Man Vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel. On that show the host goes on all these survival missions and teaches the viewers all about survival. But it was fun anyway because I got to build shelters and ours was the best in my opinion. We talked about making fires, food, water and etc.
Survival
New Games
Dear Journal,
In this activity I had the best fun. We played games like capture the flag, Ultimate Nerf, and kickball. We all worked together during all of the games and we played hard. During the process there was a lot of fun and funny and I liked it how the teachers cracked jokes at each other. I laughed at each one. All in all our team one two out of three of the total games we played.
New Games
Archery
Dear Journal,
Out of all of the classes I believe archery was pretty difficult. I really enjoyed the teacher, that taught us. He would tell jokes and he was witty which made archery pretty exciting. We went over basic rules and the parts of an arrow. There is the tip, body, and the fletches towards the bottom. Fletches were the triangular shaped things on the bottom of the bow. There are usually three or four fletches towards the bottom of the arrow. After the directions we began to practice our arrow positions. I was all set. I aimed and fired but I missed. Since this was my first time, they gave me credit. But I wasn’t going to leave without hitting something. I aimed my second bow. The accuracy was a little off of the arrow so I had to adjust it so it would hit properly. I then held my breath aiming for the heart. I then yanked back and let go. The arrow zoomed pass the range and hit the dear straight in the heart. I had done it. Next he put up balloons. These were a little harder and I was really close for all my shots. I thought I was the best there when suddenly I hear a pop. Ryan (my friend) had popped the balloon. He was amazing. We all cheered for him and he was really pumped up after that moment.
Archery
Nature
Dear Journal,
Our last class of the day was nature. Since it was drizzling outside we had to go indoors to do our activities. In nature class we tested our five senses by doing things that eliminated every sense except one. One of the activities was using you sense of touch. You were blind folded and the teacher gave you an object. You had to remember the shape and the texture of the object. We did several of those kinds of things, and it was interesting. The best part of this was probably because you would receive candy for everything you complete.
Nature
Dinner
Dear Journal,
Today was our last dinner. We had pizza for our last dinner.
Pizza
Gymnasium time,
Dear Journal,
We went to the gymnasium and played games that were extremely boring and I almost fell asleep. They were really tedious and I was happy to be done. We had a little free time after that so I started to play some volleyball with everyone but I got bored so I walked out. I then got a plan. For the rest of the day I started acting like a little bunny and went hopping the rest of the day annoying people.
Tedious Games of Death
Campfire,
Dear Journal,
Last but not least for the day there was the campfire. I didn’t really do anything except I heard a really scary story that made me almost freak out. The story involved demons taking over people.
FIRE
Lights Out,
Dear Journal,
This trip was a real blast. Tomorrow will be my last day here at camp. We stayed up until 3:00 this time. I slept on the floor by everyone because of the story that Jagr told me during the campfire. That is how scared I was. We were chatting about things and telling stories. We had a great night
Last Morning,
Dear Journal,
I packed everything up today. It was a pain because my sleeping bag would not zip up. Otherwise it was like average mornings. I went to the carpet ball table like always and went to breakfast.
High Ropes,
Dear Journal,
I really didn’t want to do high ropes, because it looked a little lame. But a lot of my friends did it. There were various obstacles and we were strapped on to a harness and hoisted into the air and did the obstacles up there. That is why it is called high ropes.
High Ropes
Zip Line,
Dear Journal,
This was the best activity in the camp I was so excited when it was my turn to climb. The wall was about 50 ft. high and it was really hard because your hands started to get really numb as you get to the top, but the key is not to give up. I was about to fall when suddenly the guy on the ground pulled back which kept me in the air. I owe the guy on the bottom. Without him I probably would not have made it. Finally I was at the top. A lot of people didn’t do the climbing wall or they were too scared, or they hesitated for a long time. When it was my turn I was really excited. I just leaped off and said BLACK OPS!!! When you first get off it felt like you were free falling but then you would soar like a bird in the sky. It was so much fun.
Zip Line is Fun
Lunch,
Dear Journal,
This was my last lunch during this time we shared our last things with our group and after lunch we loaded on the bus for the long ride back home. It was tacos for lunch.
Friendship Lunch
Home Sweet Home,
Dear Journal,
I got back to Marie Murphy. Right there waiting was my dad. When I went home everybody was all over me, saying that they missed me. It was like a big reunion. I would never forget the memories of outdoor education. I made so many memories there. I wish my family could have experienced it too.
Group Picture
