Middle School Hopes To Bring ‘Adventure’ To the Classroom

By Tanjua Damon

If you stopped by the Middle School on Monday, you may have thought for a brief moment that the 90 middle school teachers and staff there had lost their minds. But all the balloon popping, winking, and rope climbing had a purpose.

Project Adventure is a new program in which all Newtown Middle School students will participate while at the middle school. Students will spend one fifth of their school year or seven weeks in Project Adventure, where they will hopefully gain life-long skills in trust, self-esteem, teamwork, and communication.

A group consisting of Laura Beattie, Joe Carollo, Sandy Gernhard, David Ebert, Nancy Bowen, and Rich Engel from John Read Middle School in Redding came to mentor the Newtown Middle School staff, who spent the entire day gaining Project Adventure skills they can pass on to their students.

Laura described Project Adventure as a rejuvenator. She helped NMS staff understand and learn the philosophy of the program. It was an opportunity for the facility and staff to experience first hand what types of activities the students will be participating in during Project Adventure. Teachers took part in games that were non-competitive, and fun, teaching fair play and teamwork.

“The Adventure Program builds trust, self awareness, self-esteem, communication, listening skills, and risk taking,” Ms Beattie said. “There are a number of school districts who have adopted the philosophy.”

Project Adventure’s philosophy fits directly to the middle school’s mission that “all children can and will learn well,” Middle School Principal Diane Sherlock said. Some of the program goals include: to increase the participant’s sense of personal confidence; to increase mutual support within the group; to develop an increased level of agility and physical coordination; to develop an increased joy in one’s physical self and being with others; and to develop an increased familiarity and identification with the natural world.

Project Adventure is not new to NMS physical education teacher Jane Vouros. She has been researching the program for over 14 years and is glad to have it implemented at the middle school level this year.

 “It’s so good for relationships,” she said. “It has all the attributes we want our growing students to have. This fits. It will grow every year. We will be adding things as we grow.”

Chester Washburn, NMS’s Project Adventure teacher, is looking forward to the students coming back to school and being able to experience what the program is about.

“I’m excited and thrilled,” Mr Washburn said. “I’m thankful we can do it. This is a powerful tool to help students go through life and something they can transfer to other places.”

On staff development day, teachers and staff took part in the Newtown Stomp, in which balloons were tied to their ankles and everyone tried to pop everyone else’s balloons.

Then there were 90 people in a small area. Five were picked to be winkers. Making eye contact is the object of the game. The winkers have to quickly wink at a person. Then that person is out, but before leaving the area has to count to ten and then scream. Hopefully people around you saw the winker. In order for a winker to be out of the game, two people have to raise their hands, everyone stops, and then at the same time the two people have to say who the winker is. If each person gives a different name then both of those people are out, but if they agree then the winker loses and is out instead.

Groups of teachers also had to figure out the best way for their team to get their rolling raft from one end of the gym to the other. Their materials included a rectangular piece of wood, tennis balls, and four oar-like sticks. Only three people could be on the raft and pushing the raft was not an option.

But maybe the most intriguing game was Nitro. No there were not any real dangerous chemicals in B Gym, but again groups of teachers had to get from one side to another only using a rope hanging from the ceiling. It may not seem difficult to some, but then add getting a bucket of “nitro” to the other side without spilling it.

“We are instituting Project Adventure as a class unto itself,” Ms Vouros said. “We also want to educate our staff. Train them to bring adventure right into their classrooms. It does kind of break down barriers, teach them not to be overly competitive, and to take people for what they are.”

Ms Sherlock agreed that it is important for the teachers to see what Project Adventure is all about.

“This is perfect,” she said. “We see this as a team building day with the staff, exactly what we want to do with our students.”

Nancy Bowen of Newtown, who was a mentor to the middle school staff, believes this is a great program, noting that kids won’t be saying they did “nothing” in school each day.

“I’m extremely excited for all the children. I think it’s going to be an experience that will impact their lives and the positive school climate,” Nancy said. “It will be one of their favorite classes.”

Ms Sherlock said they are grateful for the support from the Superintendent John Reed and the school board for approving Project Adventure.