Another Article about the trip!

It was a WOW experience for girls from Philly | PoconoRecord.com

Grateful

This is a little something that Betsy, the girl's leader, wrote in her journal:

Grateful

to the river that flows

cool on my feet

to share this experience

with wonderful girls

to see some wildlife i have

never seen-a beaver with her baby!

to be given this opportunity

to Heidi and Jessica for their

hard work and leadership-

so I can also be"one of the

girls" in some ways

to have met Ryan, Mike, Mark

and Ruth.

Memories Quickly Fade.

I'm sitting here on a random Wednesday night working late in my office so I figured I would take a few quiet moments to recap our rainy day on the river. But memories come to me slowly.

It seems so long ago that we were on the river. But it was only last week. It's a week to the day that we came off the river a day early because of the rain. As much as I was...heck, we all were happy to be in a real bed, warm and in dry clothes...I am a bit sad that we had to switch our schedule. As much as the weather was perfect (except for the strong sun and clear sky that conspired to sear my light skin like an Ahi tuna steak) it did put a kink in the flow of the trip. One more night out would have helped the girls feel more comfortable and adept at camping. But we were dealt a specific hand and I played it the best I could.

It was a good idea to switch our kayaking day with our gear clean-up day because the girls left PEEC with a positive experience in the natural world and that is what we at PEEC and the NPF wanted.

We succeeded.

I'll let the girls prove it in their own words in the next post.

Second Article about ABI / WOW

Click on the link below to read another article published because of this program!

PEEC instructor Heidi Normand finds health in a natural world | PoconoRecord.com

Fw: New Jersey Herald Newspaper Article

Hey Everyone!

The first news article about the program ran today. The link is below. Also, look for articles in the Pocono Record on Monday and Friday of next week as well as a television piece on Channel 13 news (Milford, PA station) this week.

http://www.njherald.com/story/news/15WOW

Getting ready to kayak!

Its the last day and we're having our safety and logistics talk. The girls are excited but nervous for this last day...

You mean we get to sleep in real beds tonight!?

Well...Mother Nature sure threw a curve ball at us yesterday and today! I decided to take the group off the river this morning and switch the last two day's schedules around. I didn't want the girls to have to spend another night in cold wet clothes and gear. Yesterday's rain really soaked us. One day and morning in the rain was enough. It cleared up yesterday after we got to the campsite...but the chore of setting it up was amazing. More to come on that later.

We are back at PEEC today and tonight cleaning gear and washing ourselves in real showers. We will sleep in real beds and awake refreshed and ready for one more day on the river tomorrow kayaking. The weather is supposed to be clear and sunny...Yea! So we should have a great last day. After that we come back and pack up the gear that had a chance to dry then the girls leave at 5pm homebound for Philly!

I will miss them a lot :(

Jessica and I go to Philly to spend an afternoon with them next Wednesday, then Jasmir, Dominique and Marissa come back in August to intern at PEEC so I will get to see at least the three of them one last time.

I hope they all keep in touch one way or another...

Here we go!

Here's the first boat out of the shute...we were a close second!

Sleeping Bag Challenges

Its always harder to put the bags back into the pack than taking them out!

Heading for the river!

Here we are just about to embark on day two on the water in canoes!

A few of the girls packing their bags...

Some girls opted to pack their bags in their tents...

Home for last night

Here we see our little tent village...

Cloudy?

We're hoping that the clouds don't rain on us, because rain is tough to deal with, but cloud cover is nice because it makes the day cooler!

Morning has Broken

This is the view that awaited everyone upon exiting their tents this morning

Day Two

It rained all night. But that's not a bad thing. It cooled the night off and it forced us all into our tents for some much needed rest. Hopefully it will add some more water to the river and help it to flow faster. We had a BBQ for dinner and Ruth Jones, the owner of Kittatinny Canoes came to our camp for stories about the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and her long life of 70 plus years on the river. The rain held just long enough for us to clean up dinner and make a mad dash into our tents that were thankfully already set up. The girls stayed up late into the night chatting as the river slid lazily by and the rain tapped on the tops of our tents. 7:45 am. Time to wake the girls for breakfast, packing and prep for today's trip. We have to pack everything for tonight's camp. We won't have the luxury of having a van with gear and food waiting for us at camp tonight. Its off to breakfast now.

Last of the lunch fun

Maranda, Marissa and Priya enjoying the water before shoving off for the last push of the day.

Exploring the River

Marissa was taking a look at some fish that were in a slow part of the river where we had lunch.

Lunch

We took out about 4 miles down for lunch. We were really hungry. With the river being so low it's a lot harder to paddle...we are all building up our muscles!

In the Princess Seat...

Henry gets to relax while we all do the work...

A mile or so into the first day.

The Delaware River is pretty low right now so 10 miles is tough. Here are a few of us early on.

Getting necessary safety info...

Here we are at Pond Eddy getting ready to get into the rafts!

On the Van Ride to the River!

We took a van to the campsite/River guide where we will end up after our first day on the river...all white water today baby!!!!

Ready to Go!

The Water Warriors are packed and ready for their last breakfast at PEEC till thursday morning! Delaware River...here we come!

Henry is Impatient!

Well...Henry is ready to go! Come on girls...hurry up!

Introducing Henry the Dragon!

Our group are the Water Warriors and our Mascot is Henry the Dragon seen above caught in the act of being a bad banker during a break in the monopoly game. The girls were at dinner and Henry seems to have fallen while making a break for it! Oh well...he's too cute to stay mad at for long :)

If there's a lesson to be learned it's...Don't trust dragons with the bank!

The Test Worked!!!!!

I just sent this pic and message from my phone. I am so glad this is working now! This is a picture of the gear all packed and ready to be packed into the van tomorrow morning.

Ok River...Here we come!

Heidi's Notes #2

It's 9pm the night before we are to shove off. The girls are all packed, the food is all prepped and all the gear is ready to pack into the van promptly at 8:30 am. I should be home enjoying my last night in my house for 4 days...but I am still in my office tying up loose ends and trying to get the mobile aspect of this blog working. I have tried several times to get the text-to-blog connection working but it just doesn't seem to want to work. I'm about to try to set it up as an email-to-blog connection and walk outside my office to send a test post. I hope it works...

Now a Few Words from the Girls...

Marissa

Day 1: Monday, 21st of June. First Day of Summer.

I am so excited! I guess you can say PEEC has that effect on you. This whole, being on the water for a week, is going to be really great, I can tell. So far, I've eaten, laughed and walked. I also have a few ideas for writing. Like dragonflies, humming birds, butterflies and shade under a tree. Perhaps a poem on hearing things in a forest and not being there? The ideas are flowing. This is going to be great :) ...

The shade of an oak tree,

overcome and protect me.

From the heat of the deadly sun's rays

or even from the pelting of a storms dismay.

I have you to lean on,

and also to hide behind.

But I just cant figure out why

those men took you away.

Your shade is no longer and your protection

is still needed.

Why did those men take you away?

Dominique

Women on the Water

We are going

on a new adventure.

Nervous at first, but fresh air relaxes us.

Eyes to explore the great outdoors.

Now we can enjoy the environment

and more.

Our minds are free

now let us see what can amaze us.

This is our time

hers, theirs, and yours.

Every woman can explore

what our earth has

and more.

The experience will be

remembered forever.

Manna-Symone

Unpredictable...

predictable?

The ways of the water are never certain. But yet, my desire to float and glide upon it's surface have never been higher.

Predictable?

unpredictable...

Could it be that becoming one with the water, one with the nature surrounding the water, one with the ways some people used to live frightens me.

Unpredictable...

predictable?

Yes we will be gazing up at stars, but we will also be unsheltered, no home to protect us.

Yes we will be in a boat of some kind, but on the water, water has a min of its own.

Our time spent and our time to be spent...

Unpredictable?

predictable.

Monique

My expectations for the trip in July is that I will learn how to survive camping and trying to do everyday things just because you need to. I expect to be able to open my mind even more to things people in the city take for granted. I also expect just to have a great experience and learn a lot. I want to remember this forever!

All The Prep was Worth It!

We took so many pictures, but because it took me some time to finally get blogger to accept them remotely, I didn't get a chance to really track the program like I wanted to. That is to be expected though when one is creating a program from scratch. I wanted to take pictures along the way showing planning and prepping and teaching to shoving off on that first day.

Well, it didn't happen that way, but that doesn't mean that I can't fill in the gaps now!

So here I go.

You would think that having thousands of dollars to buy a ton of equipment, enough to

outfit 15 people on the trail or on the river would be fun.

It was! But it was tiring too. It was, like, 95 degrees with

112 % humidity (ok...not 112% but it felt like it) the day I went to pick up the big order of gear at Cabela's in Harrisburg, PA. And by the way...a big THANK YOU! to Cabela's for their very generous discount.

Because of what they did...we were able to stretch out gear budget to include so much

more.

Not to worry though, Jessica and I didn't have to do all the

labeling and organizing on our own. The girls helped by labeling the gear they were to use for the trip so that we didn't have to do it all.

Good and Bad News...

I am sad to report that Saroya will not be able to join our little troop on the river. But it is for a good reason! Saroya is headed to grad school and her first day of orientation is July 13th and she can't miss that! She will be sorely missed but we all wish her the best of luck on this next phase of her educational journey.

Thank You Saroya for all you did to help while the girls were here two weeks ago.

Saroya M. Royster: Assistant Group Leader

I am a recent graduate of Bloomsburg University and I am interning with WINS to complete my coursework requirements. Although I didn't major in Science, as an alumni of the WINS program I'm glad to be back! I missed my WINS class trip to PEEC in 2002 so this is actually my first experience here. So far so good! I love the calming and relaxing feeling I get from being outdoors. I especially liked the yoga activity. I look forward to being on the river for a few days and I'm excited to be a part of this experience.

Heidi's Notes #1

Whew!

I have all the reservations set and my campsites reserved. The schedule is all made and the river company is booked! And... I cant believe the trip is a little over two weeks away! Jessica and I still have a lot of planning and ordering of food , gear and supplies. But with the schedule made now, it is easier to see what times we have to be able to do that.

I also want to thank a few people: Allison Owczarczack, Associate Director of Education and Jeff Rosalsky, CEO of PEEC, Paul Berge who lent his amazing digital SLR to me for the days the girls were here at PEEC this week. The photos on the website would not have been possible without that camera.

Without their help so much of this would not be possible!

Thanks guys!

There will be more thanks to come...

Take a look at what some of us are writing here at PEEC by reading our latest newsletter at http://www.peec.org/newsletter/PEECseasons_summer2010.pdf

and check out these other links: http://pberge.zenfolio.com, www,kittatinny.com

Day 1 part 3

Team building refers to a wide range of activities for improving team performance


Team building is pursued via a variety of practices, and can range from simple bonding exercises to complex simulations. It generally sits within the theory and practice of organizational development, but can also be applied to school groups, and other contexts. Teambuilding is an important factor in any environment, its focus is to specialize in bringing out the best in a group of people to ensure self development, positive communication, leadership skills and the ability to work closely together as a team to problem solve. (WIkipedia definition)


Teambuilding is a component of many of the programs done here at PEEC. So it is fair to say that these girls have been through a teambuilding program or two. So it was up to Jessica to challenge them to use some of their previous knowledge about teambuilding to solve the challenges she tasked them with. Check out the video below of one of those challenges.

This teambuilding initiative is called Organized Chaos.

You have two teams, and for each team there are two "callers". Caller #1 is facing the "finish line" (which is an object that has to be "found") and Caller #2 faces #1 (their back to the finish line) Caller # 1 cannot speak but can see the seeker. Caller # 2 cannot see the seeker but can speak to the seeker. Caller # 1 signals directions to caller # 2 who verbalizes those directions to the blind seeker who must make it to the "finish line"

To make things chaotic, there are two teams calling directions to their blind seekers. The seekers have to be able to differentiate their caller's directions from the other caller's directions.

When a seeker finds their "finish line", they are "called" back to their team...all the while still blindfolded.

Day 1 part 2

Today was a day of profound realizations.

For me...it really hit home that I will be on the river with these 11 young women. For them, the realization of what it truly means to "live" on the river for 4 days and 3 nights became crystal clear.

There was no shortage of doubt in the room when this fact was realized.

The difference between wants and needs becomes utterly clear when one realizes "if you pack it, you lug it around." It is here that things like pillows, multiple pairs of shoes and makeup become a "want" not a "need". And I used to be a makeup artist and fashion industry exec. Knowing my career past, you would think that I couldn't do without these things. But I can and often do. As I got older, I learned that they, as well as other wants, have their place in a balanced life.

Learning how to live a balanced life of wants and needs is one of the things Jessica, Betsy and I are hoping to show the girls. One way to help them realize what is wanted opposed to needed in their lives is to have them journal about their experience and how they feel throughout it.

Journaling is a part of the WINS program back in Philly and here at PEEC we incorporate journaling into many programs.

During the ABI / WOW program the girls will be journaling about many aspects of their trip. On this blog, you will be able to read from each girl's journal as well as "hear" from all of us while on the river. While on the river we will be blogging. Technology has given us the ability to do this with relative ease as long as we keep our cell phones and cameras dry.


I'm glad I bought insurance on my new Blackberry.

Day 1 part 1

WAITing, WAiting, Waiting, waiting...

Well my excitement is bubbling over and I can't concentrate on my other duties here at the center. I'm waiting for my ABI / WOW group to arrive and they are a bit late. That's ok. Things happen, and this allows me time to catch up on more of the planning for the program........

Wait a second. Is that them pulling into the parking lot?

 Yes!

A minute or two later, 11 young women from Philadelphia tumble out of the rental van and head straight for.....the BATHROOM!!!! 2 plus hours in a rental van after coffee and water and breakfast in their stomachs make a bathroom break, before anything, else mandatory.

Next comes moving into their yurts, lunch and an orientation to PEEC and the Park. Then they're off to hike PEEC's Scenic Gorge Trail; a 1.5 mile loop through deciduous forests
that transition into hemlock ravines that drop in elevation to shelter babbling streams, a small waterfall and the quiet and cool of the forest. After that we whisk the girls int a team-building session that will test their ability to work as a team. This is important because the girls will need to work well together when on the river so we start the process of cementing a sense of community now, early on in the program. After that they will go to dinner in our sustainably built dining hall (seen below).

Their night begins with an astronomy program with astronomy professor Nick Platco of Stars Mars and More and after their dinner has settled, we will engage in a yoga session with Yoga instructor Meredith Hutter Chamorro that will eventually lead to a Night Hike to get the girls comfortable with being in the woods at night.



Then, off to bed in PEEC's yurt village.

Click below on the Photo Album to see pictures from today. Captions to come later.