This Challenge benefits team spirit

Jennifer Schmidt was a new faculty member at the Rockwell-Swaledale High School last fall. As guidance counselor and student council sponsor, Schmidt wanted to get beyond what she saw as the students' perception that she wasn't part of the school, not part of the group. At the recommendation of Robin Galloway, Northern Trails AEA staff development consultant, Schmidt and the student council took the 4-H Challenge, offered by Iowa State University Extension.

"It was an absolutely wonderful experience," Schmidt said. "My relationship with the students changed as we took the Challenge together. The students were much more willing to express their thoughts and feelings with me after the Challenge."

The 4-H Challenge takes a group through a sequence of activities requiring participants to use their bodies and minds together to find solutions to a set of obstacles.

Extension's 4-H Portable Challenge is an adventure designed to help youth and/or adults work together to solve a problem. Extension facilitators help groups learn more about themselves and about how they work to process a set of initiatives.

When Pocahontas Area Community School's seventh graders were all moved to the same building at the beginning of the 2000-2001 school year, the school's climate committee invited ISU Extension to bring the Challenge. The goal was to help these students get to know each other better.

Jack Pierick, of Opportunity Living in Lake City, was looking for a way to build team spirit in his staff when he invited ISU Extension to his facility. His employees work with people who have multiple disabilities, and staff development opportunities often took his staff to Des Moines, Ames, or farther away. Because the Challenge program came to them, they saved money that then was available for additional staff development opportunities.

Pierick and the Challenge facilitators agree that working with an all-adult group added barriers, but participant surveys six months after the Challenge revealed a marked improvement in communications between staff, an increased trust in self and others, and a developing team spirit among all workers.

Groups can schedule the 4-H Challenge by contacting any ISU Extension county office.

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* Students have new pathways to learning

* Did you know Extension did that?

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• Last update: Dec. 28, 2000