Roughly 100 sophomores and juniors from the Media Arts Program ventured to Fort Miley Ropes Course in San Francisco on Sept. 9 to develop leadership and teamwork skills.
The field trip organizers sought to build trust and respect among the students. Throughout the year, MAP offers various field trips, including a historical scavenger hunt in San Francisco and a trip to Cinequest, an annual independent film festival held in San Jose.
“It was a great experience. I got to meet a lot of new people, especially those not in my grade,” junior Madison King said.
One of the many memorable activities included a team-building exercise in which over 30 people had to work together to climb over a 10-foot wall.
“The activity taught us how important it is to listen and consider every person’s strengths when forming a plan. In the end we managed to get everyone over and it felt really rewarding to accomplish our task,” King said.
Skills such as trust and communication are especially important for the students, who must complete a variety of group projects throughout the year.
“It’s applied to every project we ever do, because if we can’t trust each other, support, work with, and teach [each] other, group projects will just crash and burn,” junior Jason Seo said.
The field trip proved to be a good opportunity for students to not only bond with each other but with teachers as well.
Seo’s partner for a ladder climb activity was MAP English 10 teacher Jason Friend. The two were instructed to devise creative solutions to scale a 14-foot-wide, six-rung ladder.
“[We] did all kinds of crazy stuff to climb up to the top. We didn’t get all the way up, but I definitely felt accomplished, regardless that we [only reached] the fourth rung,” Seo said.
Teachers also made a huge effort to participate in the activities rather than just supervise the students.
“I was with impressed the teachers. [They] didn’t sit back the entire time. They were really supportive, cheered us on and, on occasion, went up with us on the ropes,” Seo said.
English 9 MAP teacher Suzanne Herzman found it interesting to see how the students’ teamwork developed throughout the day. She also enjoyed interacting with both students and fellow teachers.
“For me, one of the highlights was seeing [English teacher Jason] Friend in a helmet,” Herzman said.
The field trip taught students skills not only limited to the MAP environment but to life in general.
“I was with mostly strangers and those activities taught me to teach people quicker, learn names faster and how to be an effective part of a team, all in the span of a few hours,” Seo said.
Fort Miley Ropes Course is open to the public on the first Sunday of every month and will give all SHS students a two-for-one discount. For more information, see http://www.pliprograms.org/.
