Summertime is significant to me. Admittedly, being out of school for 3 months is important for almost every kid’s development, but in my case, it became something more. In 1983, I spent my first summer “away from home” when I started working at a local YMCA camp. I had been camping a couple times with my parents, and spent a week at choir camp. But working as a camp counselor profoundly changed my life. For the next 6 summer breaks, through high school and college, I worked as a lifeguard, canoeing and climbing instructor, high ropes course facilitator and program director.
At the time, I believed that the most important part of those experiences was learning recreation skills. After all, I was 15. I didn’t go into this journey knowing how to canoe, rock climb or backpack. Since age 5, I was a competitive swimmer, and being a lifeguard and swimming instructor was the first step. Little did I know that it was also a metaphorical backstage pass to what would become my entire career.
That joy of experiencing “the great outdoors” was an unexpected means to an end. Yes, I was learning to find appropriate places to set up tents while avoiding hazards, or how to tie belay lines on a cliff face. But much more importantly, I was developing “soft skills,” too. I was teaching these activities to kids, learning how to inspire interests, and guiding groups of people toward common goals.
I was fortunate to participate in the ECOEE field study program in college. The acronym stands for Environmental Conservation / Outdoor Education Expedition.
(I’m in the back row, 2nd from the right.)
It was a spring planning class that culminated with a semester-long road trip. It took us on a behind-the-scenes visit of various innovative educational facilities, National Parks, and adaptive recreation programs.
We spent several weeks backpacking in the Grand Tetons and Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, and the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Our timing was also fortunate – we were at Yellowstone while the historic decision to reintroduce wolves to the park was being considered – 8 years before the plan was implemented. It’s cool to see what happened after:
http://How Wolves Change Rivers
In January of my senior year of college, I began a 4-month internship with Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, leading wilderness canoe trips for adjudicated teenagers. The program was one of the most successful of its kind – one of the original “hoods in the woods” rehabilitative programs. And it boasted a HUGELY successful track record: 66% of the kids who completed the course did not become re-offenders.
The end result of this life foundation was a 32-year career that spanned camp directing, program development, therapeutic recreation, child and adult inpatient psych counseling, outpatient mental health treatment, probation court services, and law enforcement. I also took my own kids camping and recreating, both with youth groups, and as a family. I still look forward to every opportunity to go camping, to road trip across country, or to explore a State or National Park. It has become one of the biggest passions of my life.
And it all started while getting a suntan at a swimming pool in Iowa, earning $25 a week.
-Toph
What seemingly minor decisions you made had huge ramifications later? Shoot me an email and let me know!