Leadership

Glad to be at camp!!

I have a few more stories and pictures to share about our recent mountaineering expedition.  Eventually I'll get back to talking about sea kayaking, which is more or less what I intended to focus on with this blog... seems like I haven't been doing much sea kayaking lately.  However, I hope to soon!

The students are on the last night of their Independent Small Group Expeditioning... I head to their respective pick-up locations tomorrow--and expect them to be there: happy and healthy.  It will be fun to hear their stories and adventures.  It will also be a little sad, because it will officially be the start of the 'end' of the Patagonia Year for us--the Chulengos.  I've spent the last few days thinking how will we close our experience. (?)  I've collected a few thoughts and a couple of readings to share.  I gave the Chulengos a small reflective assignment that I'm hoping most of them will be willing to share:  it's about who they perceive themselves to be, who they've become as a result of their NOLS experience and who they want to be.

It can be hard to have such a powerful experience as a full six months in the backcountry--learning a lot about nature, about oneself, one's strengths and weaknesses, the strengths and weaknesses of others, one's limits, passions, and fears--and then to leave that unique place and go home to a familiar place, feeling like you've changed so much but but home hasn't changed.  It can be hard to relate such a unique experience to people, to loved ones, who haven't been there.

One of the strong threads of curriculum that we teach at NOLS is leadership.  In the beginning of the Patagonia Year we had a number of formal or semi-formal classes on leadership and we began using leadership language to talk about the day and to give each other feedback on how the day went and how the 'designated leaders' did and how the 'active-followers' did.  Eventually we taught fewer and fewer classes and the leadership 'curriculum' became simply doing it--learning it and practicing it through experience.

And the Chulengo students led each other amazingly well in some very challenging situations.  There were five seperate occasions where one or two small groups didn't make it to the camping destination of the day.  That led to some problem solving, some decisions to be made, risks to be managed, adversities and uncertainties to be tolerated, plans to be hashed out and executed.  All of these situations required leadership.

Some of you readers, and I'm especially thinking of the parents, family and friends of the Chulengo students, might enjoy reading a little bit about NOLS' leadership structure and philosophy.  I'll see if I can post our leadership pamphlet for you to check out.  It is a condensed version of our curriculum.  It will also give you a little insight into what your Chulengo has been 'eating, sleeping and breathing' the last six months.

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