We recently returned from what we have been referring to as our 100 mile bike ride.  Our goal on this trip was to push students outside their comfort zones and squeeze them to find out what was inside.  We were incredibly impressed with the positive attitudes and good team work demonstrated by our students.  While only a handful of students were actually able to complete the full 100 miles, every single student gave this challenge all that they had and they worked hard.  During this trip we introduced a concept of “Work Hard, Play Hard.”  I have seldom seen a group of students grasp a concept so quickly and naturally.  While riding bikes our students worked and pushed themselves beyond their limits.  Once we arrived at camp the majority of the students were helpful and happy and played like little kids at a playground.  It helped that we actually were camping in play grounds along the way.  Multiple staff talked about how they were impressed with so many of the interactions and ability our students have to form sincere and enduring relationships.  The following is a quote from one of the coaches who lead a group of boys who named their team “Humble Gumble.”

“Humble Gumble as a group made sure that this experience was about the process and not the task. More...

There is an old Chinese Proverb that says, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a meal, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."  Over the past six weeks in recreational therapy CALO students have been doing just that, fishing.  After learning the basic principles of standard real casting techniques, CALO students broke out the waders and the fly rods and have been learning how to fly fish.  It has been an incredibly frustrating experience for both staff and students.  A great deal of time has been spent untying knots that were miraculously created while learning the overhead and roll casts.  Hooks have snuck their way into the most difficult and hard to reach places snagging branches high in the trees and deep underwater.  Hooks have also managed to sneak into the fingertips of a couple of unsuspecting students. Throughout this learning process students have learned about fishing, and also about trust.

Trust is a concept that is scary to many of our students.  More...