Katie’s Korner: A few words from our Executive Director . . .
In 1993, I participated in a high ropes course instructor training. Among the high ropes course elements on which we trained was The Multi Vine.
Imagine, you’re 35 feet above the ground (having arrived at this level after climbing multiple metal staples in the side of a telephone pole), you’re wearing a helmet and a harness and your colleagues are down below holding onto your belay line. You’re about to step onto a thin wire cable suspended between the side of the telephone pole on which you’re perched and another pole about 15 feet (feels like 100 feet) away. The object? To get across the cable by holding onto a series of vertical hanging ropes (aka ‘vines’). What you don’t know and can’t see is that these ‘vines’ become ever so slightly shorter and ever so slightly wider apart as you cross the wire cable. You’re choices are limited. You can quit and your colleagues will lower you down from where you stand. Or, you can take a step forward – a leap of faith. You can try to navigate yourself across the wire to the other side. And, as you cross, you begin to realize so many things about yourself and your life. Nearing the end of the wire, in order to reach the final ‘vine,’ you have to leap – literally jump – from the vine you are holding to the one you cannot reach. You have to let go – physically and emotionally – of the rope you are clinging onto and trust in yourself to grab the one that is just beyond your reach. You take a leap of faith.
At Outward Bound, we teach through metaphor. The Multi Vine element allows us to explore the importance of letting go and the reach for something that might just be a little farther than we know. We are reminded that we can choose to live our lives within our comfort zones OR we can, from time to time, let go of the vines we hold in order to reach for vines that we can see and that may be just a little farther away than we thought.
2016 will be a year of preparing to let go at POBS. As the final design for The Discovery Center unfolds and the start of construction for the site and building is planned for the fall of this year, POBS looks towards the vines that are just beyond our reach. We can see them. We know they are there. We are working hard to prepare to grab them. We are excited about the future and the new opportunities to change [more] lives through challenge and discovery. And we want you to take the leap with us – experience the wonder of Outward Bound this year by taking a course, attending an event, or helping a deserving student participate. And then, join us as we leap toward the adventures yet to come!
Happy leap year!
Katie
There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.
-William Shakespeare
POBS goes to the “Souperbowl”
The Philadelphia Outward Bound School was presented with $40,000 on February 5th at the West Chester Area Souperbowl – an annual event hosted by the Westtown Goshen and Greater West Chester Sunrise Rotary Clubs.
The check was presented by the Mayor of West Chester, Carolyn Comitta, and by Rotarian Dennis Wallace. As members of Building Adventure’s top fundraising team, Team Rotary, Mayor Comitta and Mr. Wallace helped their fellow Rotarians raise more than $40,000. These funds will provide scholarships for young girls in their communities to go on Outward Bound expeditions this summer!
We thank all of the Rotarians who helped Team Rotary reach their goal! We can’t wait to partner with Rotary International in 2016!
Spring Special: Plan an Insight Day for this April
Take advantage of our spring special by sending your school group or corporate team to the Philadelphia Outward Bound School for an Insight Programthis April! Insight Programs are a half-day or full-day team building experience that includes ground games, initiatives and adventure learning ropes course challenges.
Highly trained instructors facilitate these activities to build self confidence, trust, and leadership. After each activity, the group reflects on the experience in order to reinforce lessons learned. Insight programs take place at our high ropes challenge course in Wissahickon Park or at your available location.
