The BICO Monthly Outings Summary

November, 2004

OUTING #1 DATE: November 6, 2004

TEAM: YMCA and Digital Harbor High School

ACTIVITIES: restricted watercraft outing

DESTINATION: Baltimore Harbor and the Patapsco River

GETTING IN:

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Boat Fee

DIRECTIONS:

I-95 toward Baltimore

Exit #53/MLK Blvd toward Inner Harbor

NEAREST HEALTH FACILITY:

Johns Hopkins Hospital

601 North Caroline Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21287
410-955-5000

OUTING HIGHLIGHTS:

Everything worked. It was a great outing. Nicole and I especially pleased to see how well the four high-schoolers from Digital Harbor got along with the younger boys and girls from the College Gardens Community Center. Nicole assigned the College Gardens youngsters to four different teams and made the high schoolers team leaders. It was up to the team leaders to coordinate the activities of the youngsters on their team and to look out for their safety and well being. The high schoolers hesitated at first, but soon accepted their roles and did a great job with the younger kids.

Everyone enjoyed the boat ride on the Snowgoose, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation boat crew did a great job teaching the youngsters about the bay and what lives in it. It was hands-on environmental education at its best.

OUTING SUGGESTIONS:

Anyone going out on the Snowgoose is supposed to be in the fourth grade or higher. Before we went on the outing, I told a CBF representative that most of the College Gardens youngsters did not meet the requirement, since they range in age from 6 to 12. I was told it would be ok, since the boat has small lifejackets. The boat’s captain was clearly surprised when he saw ho young (and small) some of the youngsters were, however. He said that in the future we will have to make sure everyone going on board the Snowgoose is at least a fourth grader.

CBF allows as many as 25 people to go on the Snowgoose. We only had 18 people, allowing 2 BICO certified leaders and an agency rep. from the YMCA. I think the boat would have been too crowded if we had taken more people with us, however. With only 15 kids, all of them could participate in the different learning exercises that CBF uses to teach them about the Chesapeake Bay. Had we had more youngsters, I think some of them would have gotten lost in the shuffle, and that would have been a shame.

OUTING #2 DATE: November 12, 2004 – November 14, 2004

TEAM: Learning Inc. and Robert Poole Middle School

ACTIVITIES: Weekend Cabin Camping Trip

DESTINATION: Blackburn Cabin near Harpers Ferry, WV

GETTING IN:

Cabin Rental Fee

DIRECTIONS:

Begin on I-70 toward Frederick

Merge onto US-340 W via exit 52 toward Charles Town/Leesburg (passing thru VA-then crossing into WV)

Turn Right onto Shenandoah St.

NEAREST HEALTH FACILITY:

Jefferson Memorial Hospital
300 South Preston Street
Ranson, West Virginia 25438

Phone: 304-728-1600

OUTING HIGHLIGHTS:

While the kids and youth didn’t initially like leaving on a Friday after work or school, everyone really enjoyed waking up on Saturday morning and just enjoying being at the cabin first thing in the morning. It was decided that we prefer leaving on Friday nights and returning on Sundays, instead of leaving on Saturday mornings. It gives everyone more time at the cabin. Some of the kids enjoyed being away from home, and said so.

The majority of the kids really enjoyed hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Most wanted to hike the almost three miles, although some went back to the cabin with other adults. All of the kids enjoyed the view from the top of the Appalachian Trail. Football games always are fun for those who participate. Others either slept or played board games.

Because the kids were familiar with the agency teacher, and all the volunteers were totally new to the kids, the kids had a tendency to listen more to what the teacher instructed. On Sunday morning, when cleaning up the cabin, this became especially useful. In addition, the historical lesson about Harpers Ferry as well as the informative discussion about the Appalachian Trail was interesting.

OUTING SUGGESTIONS:

This was a totally new group of kids, except for one youth, thus it is even more important to have a structured environment for the kids. Unfortunately, there were often small groups of kids doing different things, so this made things a little more difficult to manage.

• Create a list of chores and the people who will be performing them before the outing has begun. This will avoid some confusion during the camping trip or any outing, and will make everybody feel like they were taking responsibility for part of the outing. Switch the people doing chores for each outing so they are not doing the exact same thing each time.

• Plans can change quickly during a trip. Therefore, meet as a group often to let everybody know what is going to happen next, and what is expected of them. Reiterate the time schedule continuously throughout a long outing such as a camping trip to keep pretty much on schedule.

• More team-building games. This will help the group realize that the group can’t move on to the next activity until all group members are finished with the present one. This is especially relevant on a camping trip where a large degree of togetherness is almost unavoidable.