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2019 FINS COURSE CALENDAR
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CHALLENGING MYSELF TO BE MORE
Student Honors Speech by FINS Alum, Nya
My name is Nya and I’m going to speak on a few things I’ve learned in the course of 20 days. This course was something that was definitely out of my comfort zone, but it’s also an experience I am grateful for and will remember for the rest of my life. I am a person who always makes the most of every situation and looks at things with the best perspective possible. Because of that, I made the decision to push myself (as I always do) and graduate this course with honors.
One of the main reasons I wanted to go on course was not only to challenge myself, but because of the picture it would paint to others. This will look good on resumes, college applications, and even job applications. Outward bound is well known, and according to my instructors, people will be impressed; to me image is everything! I want people to look at me and see greatness and power! I want to be wanted in teams, clubs, schools and in the future, certain jobs. Before this course started, I would ask people, (especially my mom), “How will this change anything?” “What will this do for me?” ...Whew… What didn’t this experience change? How didn’t it benefit me?
WHY WE DO THIS WORK
By Claire Sharpe, FINS Instructor
I’m often asked why I do this work. I think about this often, especially when I’m tired and the students are cranky and I really just want a nice warm bed or a milkshake. What I come back to is this: service. Service to our community locally, our national community and ultimately our global community. The systematic oppression of people of color, people living in poverty, women, and the LGBTQ community is one of the bigger sicknesses of society here in the U.S. I’m not saying that these are not problems that don’t exist in other places that Outward Bound serves, but that right here, right now, these are big issues that are holding us back from being successful as a society. There are people who face this systematic oppression in all tax brackets, but they are not more commonly compounded than in the population deemed “at-risk."
Sometimes I’m asked why Outward Bound is involved in this societal struggle, isn’t its focus the outdoors? However, Outward Bound has never been just an outdoor leadership school, it has been, from its beginnings, an agent of change for the community at large. I think it is this vein that Outward Bound started working with students who all too often are not seen, to bring health and agency to our community as a whole. We often ask students: “Are you part of the crew, a passenger or cargo?” In our history in the U.S., there are many groups of people who have often been treated, sometimes literally, as cargo. As a society, we often see and treat some of our members like cargo still. We see on a micro-level everyday on course that our crews can’t function that way and we give our students agency to be part of the crew on their expedition. We talk about transference, giving our students the agency to be part of the crew in their everyday lives. On a macro-level, in bringing this agency to subcultures that historically (and in a very real and current way) don’t have it. We are doing a service not to that subculture but to our community as a whole. In a true OB fashion being agents of change and betterment to our society through the four pillars.
EDUCATION MUST ENABLE YOUNG PEOPLE TO EFFECT WHAT THEY HAVE RECOGNIZED TO BE RIGHT, DESPITE HARDSHIPS, DESPITE DANGERS, DESPITE INNER SKEPTICISM , DESPITE BOREDOM, AND DESPITE MOCKERY FROM THE WILD.
KURT HAHN, FOUNDER OF OUTWARD BOUND
ALUMNI CONTINUES TO RISE TO THE CHALLENGE
In 2018, Jazmyne completed an Outward Bound FINS course. After successfully finishing the program, she went on to graduate high school, maintained a job at a surgery center and has learned to be more independent.
In February of this year, Jazmyne was feeling particularly reflective about her Outward Bound course and decided to get a tattoo to honor the experience. The tattoo displays the word “Fortitudo” with the dates of the wilderness expedition, 1/26 – 2/14, and the course number, F476. Jazmyne says the reason for the tattoo was because Outward Bound had made such a big impact on her life. It helped her do things she never thought she could and brought out strengths she didn’t know she had. "It gave me a sense of finding myself and reflecting on things," she said. Jazmyne plans to join the army next year. Congratulations Jazmyne! Keep up the good work!
OUT AND ABOUT: OUTREACH
FINS Family Coordinators had the opportunity to participate in some Back to School events this summer hosted by the Caribbean Community Connection non-profit and the Department of Juvenile Justice's (DJJ) Circuit 9 in the Pine Hills community. At the DJJ's Back to School BBQ, a DJ kept the dance music going while local youth, probation officers and law enforcement did the Wobble and the Cha Cha Slide. Providers and DJJ staff even competed against each other in a tug of war contest, but DJJ won…better luck next year providers!
One student (in yellow) graduated with honors and has completed 60 hours of community service so far this summer! We are very proud.
LEARNING TO COMMUNICATE & MOTIVATE OTHERS
Alumni Impact Letter by FINS Alumni, Hector
Outward Bound was a real breakthrough for me because I learned about teamwork, communication and how to stay positive when things are hard. One of the ways that I learned about teamwork was when the instructors would have us complete challenges that test how well you can communicate and take responsibility for your own actions. Another way I learned how to work with my team was helping each other out and doing my own part of the daily tasks and jobs that we had to do in order to get through each day, such as, cooking, cleaning, putting up tents, and carrying water jugs and other gear from the boats to our campsite each day.
A way that I learned communication was by using specific Outward Bound course tools like C.F.R., W.O.M.P, and NERPS during circles. Whenever we had any kind of "beef" or conflict we would circle up and go through one of these tools. C.F.R. stands for: Concern, Feeling, Request. Concern is when you describe what's wrong; feeling is what you felt, and request is when describing what you can do next time to avoid it from happening again. W.O.M.P is for when you can’t accept or agree to the other person’s request; you take it to the next level. It stands for "what’s up?", or "what what's going on?" This is your opportunity to tell your side of the story in a brief and factual way." Ownership is when you take credit for what you did. Empathy is when you put yourself in the other person’s shoes and express how it might have felt from their point of view, and plan is when you make some sort of compromise and make a plan for next time.
I learned how to stay positive by motivating my group when I was the Leader of the Day by saying to them that we can earn the things we want if we follow expectations and stay positive as a team. Sometimes we had doubts, because some days it was really hard out there, but I was able to cheer and lift my crew up when they needed it.
I loved my Outward Bound experience a lot because of the free feeling that you get when you are out there and also seeing a lot of animals and learning about them. Even the time I almost tipped my canoe was a good experience because I got through it. It was an amazing 20 days and I really did change from it.
The Families In Need of Services (FINS) Program is part of the North Carolina Outward Bound School. This program is in partnership with:
