An adult leadership class of approximately 15 spent their first week of the program learning teamwork through outdoor fitness obstacles on a low ropes course.
Leadership Tri-County is a 10-month program by the TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce that prepares community members for leadership roles in the region. The leadership class officially began in September 2022 and the first excursion of the program led to the high ropes course Althouse Arboretum in Upper Pottsgrove.
“The high ropes course has a long tradition in the management class,” says Growth & Success Coach Jenna Armato, head of this year’s management class.
According to Armato, it is extremely valuable that the leadership program students complete the fitness course in the first week. She said it helps classmates unite and rely on each other during their guided tour.
“You are really there to support one another, to really support one another physically, and to encourage one another,” said Armato. “It really makes connection and collaboration easier.”
She said that this kind of connection and teamwork doesn’t come naturally or quickly in a traditional classroom.
The Althouse Arboretum course includes obstacles such as a rope line at a height of around 60 cm, a swing tire challenge and a high climbing wall.
The course at the Althouse Arboretum not only promotes leadership, it also helps develop communication skills and self-esteem. According to the arboretum’s website, the course can be tailored to the goals of each group.
The leadership class began the day by first learning about the history of the arboretum, which recently celebrated its sixth anniversary.
“It was a vacant lot. There was nothing here, ”said GreenAllies CEO Ken Hamilton.
GreenAllies is the non-profit that oversees the Althouse Arboretum. The 17 acres of open space now includes hiking trails, outdoor forest classrooms, native plant gardens, and more. Hamilton said volunteer students helped design the arboretum and with its regular programming.
“Everything you see here was created by students,” he said. “You come in and design, plan and implement every program we have here.”
After the history lesson, the leadership class did an icebreaker warm-up activity and then split up into smaller groups for a scavenger hunt. Everyone explored the paths of the arboretum to find the flags attached using a map provided.
After the scavenger hunt, the management class mastered the remaining challenges as a whole team. Your first obstacle was crossing an imaginary peanut butter swamp with slender boards. The whole group had to cross together without touching the ground by creating a route with the boards along the way.
According to Armato, the obstacle course correlates with leadership skills as some of the challenges require very quick thinking while others require more strategic thinking. She said the variety of barriers helped show the group the importance of using individual strengths for the benefit of the entire team.
Armato said an executive classmate Jessica Zeigler-Cihlar is an architect and was able to use her specific skills to help the rest of her class overcome the imaginary swamp.
“Your mind quickly goes into how to put some of these pieces together to navigate the trail,” said Armato.
Zeigler-Cihlar said she had no intention of using her architectural knowledge, but her mind immediately began to solve the puzzle when one of her classmates picked up a board.
“In my head I started imagining how these boards might move across the path,” she said. “I felt that I could make a positive contribution.”
Zeigler-Cihlar said even though the leadership class worked very well together. She felt this was especially true during the climbing wall challenge, as it had a height aspect that could be intimidating.
“I was really proud of all of us for that,” she said.
During the challenge, the group had to help one classmate lift the wall one at a time. The wall had nothing to climb, so everyone worked as a team to push each person up the wall. Some members of the leadership program had cheerleading experience and were able to guide the rest of the group on how to get people up.
Zeigler-Cihlar said she was happy to be one of the first to come up the wall so she could help bring other people to her. She said it was a very special moment to see people like her classmate Tiffany Smith overcome the obstacle.
“She (Tiffany) was so excited to come over that wall. Their enthusiasm was like an explosion, ”said Zeigler-Cihlar.
According to Armato, everyone in the leadership class felt good enough together to face the obstacle challenges directly and use creative solutions.
“Nobody seemed to hesitate or to step back,” she said.
Hamilton told the group that they completed the tire challenge in one of the fastest times he has seen on the track. About half of the leading class had to get through a large swinging tire while the other half caught them on the other side.
Armato said that this particular challenge showed how important trust in one another is during a team setting.
“You have to trust the people who throw you through the hoop,” she said. “It’s trust in yourself and trust in the people around you.”
Zeigler-Cihlar said she believed that everyone in the group tried something during the course that they had never done before.
“Although we had barely met each other before, everyone really intensified and worked together.”
For more information about the Althouse Arboretum and the low ropes course, visit althousearboretum.org or call 267-371-2288.
