Challenges in Nature

Greetings from Mrs. Kleisler!

Our middle-schoolers enjoyed a lovely day outdoors when we participated in a Team-Building & Course Challenge at Nassau BOCES Outdoor Education Center at Brookville. I was amazed by how our students embraced the program and learned how to work together by applying Biblical principles:

• encourage one another instead of blaming one another
• think before you talk
• build one another up instead of tearing one another down
• listen to each other’s ideas
• take turns being a leader​

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Our middle-schoolers bonded that day! 

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Led by their Naturalist, Dana, and her trusty companion, rubber chicken Rufus, they overcame personal obstacles,  physical obstacles, and met God in a new and different way.  

​Here is what our kids had to say:

Cherelle W:  It was fun, we laughed a lot, and we were a team, helping each other work out our differences.

Isaac A:  When I first heard about the field trip, I thought, “I don’t want to go, it sounds boring. Why go?”  But God told me, “You have to go, you will enjoy it, it’s going to be lots of fun.”  So I said to myself, "Ok, I’ll go" and I’m glad I went because it was a blast.  My favorite part of the trip was when I walked on a wire called the Cable Bridge. At first I was really scared, but it turned out to be lots of fun. Overall the whole trip was fun.

Severino R:  My favorite [team-building] games were Rufus’ Physical Therapy tarp toss and Chicken Baseball. Team-building helps us to work together and it was really fun.

Nicholas B:  I loved Chicken Baseball, but I hated the PT throw.

Sarah W:  One of the activities we did was a Cable Bridge which was an extension wire connected to two trees.  We had to walk across to get from one tree to the other.  It took courage to walk across the rope at such a great height ( 5 feet high 😉 ); it took trust that if you slipped, your friend would help you. We also had to trust God, that our friends would be safe.