Mt. Scott Middle and High School students and staff participated in a fun and exhilarating teambuilding activity this fall (Sept. 11-13) at Youth With A Mission (YWAM) ropes course in south Salem. The ropes course is a variety of obstacles designed to encourage participants to work together in order to accomplish specific goals. Each element is made up of various cables, wooden beams, ropes, tires, and surrounding trees. The elements encourage the development of trust, teamwork, confidence, cooperation, perseverance, communication and interdependence.
The middle school group (grades 6-9) traveled to YWAM on September 9 with the high school groups following on September 10 and 11. All groups participated in the ropes course's high and low element activities. The day began with a quick overview of activities designed to build confidence and awareness among teams of 8-10 students and staff. The teams then rotated among a variety of fun and challenging activities for the remainder of the day.
Imagine climbing 35 feet up a tree and then rocketing down the "zipline," or climbing up a 25-foot high rock wall, or hurtling through space like a pendulum 80 feet off the ground, or standing atop a 20-foot high pole and being asked to jump out and touch a ball suspended seven feet ahead of you. A safety harness alleviated all of these possible dangers.
Students and staff learned to trust other team members and to share ideas to accomplish a goal. They also learned more about themselves and to just go for it!
For a sampling of student reflections about the ropes course experience, please go to Ropes Course Reflections.
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