Sixth graders learn teambuilding at Camp Joharie

Learning to be a part of a team is an important step to success in middle school. To reinforce that lesson each year, Canajoharie Middle School takes its sixth graders on a special teambuilding field trip to nearby Camp Joharie.

Through a series of adventure-based challenges, students learn about themselves, their teachers, and their classmates. On September 7th, the Class of 2014 made the short drive to Camp Joharie in Sharon Springs. In the outdoor classroom, students tried their hands at adventure-based challenges like a low-ropes course, a high ropes course, an elevated log walk, a "spider web," and a golf ball flume.

Physical challenges test the individual and the team

 The low-ropes course is a series of braided wire ropes suspended just above the ground. The object of the exercise is for an entire group of students to walk across a single rope, like a high-wire walker. Recognizing that few individuals have the balance to successfully travel the course, the students must work together to get every member through the challenge.

The newly added high-ropes course is similar to the low ropes except that it is suspended nearly two stories in the air! Students who volunteered for this activity soon found themselves literally walking a high wire "on belay," (harnessed to a safety line high above the ground). Even though they knew that they could not fall and be hurt, the height forced them to confront their fears, to control their emotions, to test their self-confidence, and to accept controlled risk.

Securely back on the ground, students took up the challenge of a golf ball flume. The goal was to roll a golf ball down short sections of plastic chutes to a container several yards away - without touching the ball or dropping it onto the ground. The activity begins when one person rolls the ball down a section of chute to his or her neighbor. The neighbor, in turn, rolls the ball to the next person, and so on until the ball rolls off a chute into a bucket on the ground. Unfortunately, there are not enough participants to reach the bucket, so as soon as a person passes the ball on, he/she runs to the end of the line to continue as a part of the chain. The exercise sounds simple, but coordinating everyone to keep the chutes tipped in the proper direction, to keep the ball from rolling too fast, and to keep moving toward the goal is difficult. Everyone must work together to be successful.

Each activity, is designed to reinforce a message of cooperation and acceptance; the group can be successful only when each individual is successful. That message was plainly demonstrated when one group had to move all of its members through a giant, upright rope "spider web." With a little help from teammates, everyone could crawl through the web—everyone except a wheelchair-bound member of the team. Undaunted, the team lifted their teammate out of the chair and gently passed her through the web to the waiting arms of fellow teammates on the opposite side.

According to sixth grade teacher Emily Cheney, the day is a springboard for the middle school's AA (Advisor-Advisee) and CHIPS (Character Helps Improve Personal Success) programs. Students learn critical life lessons that lead to both personal and group success. Even funding the trip is part of the learning process. The trip is fully paid for with money raised by the annual middle school fruit sale. The efforts of this year's middle school students will benefit the sixth grade class of next year.

Is it effective?

The best answer to that question comes from the students who participated.

"We learned about teamwork and had fun doing it," said Jared Soodsma. "We climbed trees, walked across ropes over 30 ft. in the air, and crawled through tight spaces. We
worked together to solve problems."

For Danila Canolli, it was about the personal challenge. "My favorite part of the day was when I got to walk across the log up high in the trees, and when I got to go on the high ropes," she said

"I think the next year's 6th graders are going to like it," added Quinn Smith. "They will
learn some teamwork on the Spider Web because you have to work with people you have never worked with before."

With attitudes like these, it seems that there is little that the Class of 2014 won't be able to tackle.

see more photos of the day