About 400 sixth- and seventh-grade students from Windham Middle School experienced outdoor adventure activities that included team building initiatives as a way to gain problem-solving and leadership skills.
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| Guided by trained educators of the outdoor learning program Rippleffect, Windham Middle School students participated in fun and collaborative activities that help build resiliency, improve social- emotional skills and learn WMS' core values of respect, responsibility, integrity and compassion. PHOTO BY LORRAINE GLOWCZAK |
“Rippleffect focuses on giving students the skills to advocate for themselves, the ability to recognize and handle conflict in a respectful and productive manner and build meaningful connections with their peers,” WMS Assistant Principal Peter Hill said.
While following specific guidelines, the team building activities allowed the students to learn reliance on one another while finding ways to communicate using a variety of verbal and non-verbal methods. The experience offered problem solving skills with their peers in dynamic and creative ways while fun and laughter naturally ensued. Between each adventure activity, Rippleffect educators guided students through a time of reflection to discuss what they learned and how they could apply that learning in everyday life.
"I think all of us had a lot of fun,” Meghan Coombs, a WMS sixth grader, said of the field day. “There was a lot of teamwork, and we had to learn how to help each other and communicate in different ways that were sometimes hard, but it made us laugh."
During the time of reflection, there were many subjects discussed, including honesty and empathy towards self and others.
“We had fun and did a bunch of activities I'd never heard of to learn about compassion and integrity,” sixth grader Morgan Vickers said. “It made us all more respectful and responsible. I think it changed us and made us more responsible human beings.”
The teaching staff also had an opportunity to participate along with the students. Logan Hatlett, WMS teacher, said that working with Rippleffect allowed his students to practice WMS’ core values in new ways that were not only easily understandable for students but educated the importance of the values in an enjoyable way as well.
“The students had fun with the laid-back, low-stakes setting that Rippleffect provided us, but during the debriefs after the activities, I could tell students were connecting the dots,” he said. “By partaking in the activities and watching others do the same, they learned new ways to communicate, gaining a fresh outlook on collaboration and the many ways it can be achieved. Now, in class, I can reference the "5 C's" that Rippleffect focused on or ask how we can demonstrate our core values throughout activities and students seem to have more thoughtful answers to offer than the typical answers we would see them giving at the start of the year.”
The field day was made possible through the Town of Windham’s Substance Prevention Grant, an Educational Grant Program funded by payments collected from marijuana license, alcohol permit and other designated fees.
“We applied for and received funding through the town’s Education Grant Program, which provided this opportunity for both students and staff,” Hill said.
Hill also stated that at the end of the Field Day experience, students made commitments to themselves and to the community about how they can have a positive year.
“After this experience, the themes of building resiliency, improving social-emotional skills, and displaying WMS’s core values of respect, responsibility, compassion, and integrity will be carried on by team teachers throughout the year.”
This is the first year WMS collaborated with Rippleffect, and there are plans to develop a long-term partnership with the Cow Island based organization so that all WMS students can have a continuum of outdoor learning experiences in years to come. <
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