Question+2+Goals


 * 2. Evaluation Criterion:** **The project goals are well defined and the proposed activities are well connected and clearly articulated.

Explain, within 300-400 words for tier 1 or 600-700 words for tiers 2 and 3, how your project meets this criterion.** * The Adventure Center was born out of a desire to develop character and positive social attitudes using existing curriculum documents in light of the new provincial vision of education as presented in the When Kids Come First initiative. As a result, this project has grown to include a number of important goals which all contribute either to the intervention at an individual or community levels or to evaluating best practices so that this type of project could be enacted in other regions of the province.

The centre will:
 * provide opportunities for passion. The honourable Minsiter has often spoke and written about the need for students to find a passion. He cites that academic performance, self-worth and community involvement of a student is greatly linked to finding that one or two passions. Although there are many resources for many students to discover and practice their passion, there exists a large sector of student who crave an adrenaline activity where there is a perceived risk. Our adventure center will provide such an opportunity. We have gone the extra step to help develop such a passion. For those students who latch on to this program, we will allow them to develop their training and certification so that they can know what it is to achieve excellence. I am one of many examples where excellence in an physical activity has large positive ramifications in my academics, self perception, and life in general.
 * provide opportunities for citizenship. Part of being a citizen is the recognition that you need to contribute to the whole and that ultimately, the success of the whole is of benefit to you as an individual. It involves teamwork, respecting others opinions, investigating odd solutions to problems and celebrating the success of others. As the students work through the adventures, they are purposefully presented with problems and situations which they need to work together as a team to solve. There is plenty of time for them to discuss possible solutions. It is our experience that students recognize that they are all in this together and they begin to rather spontaneously support each other as they step out of their comfort zones and attempt a perceived risk. This requires a deliberate plan and skill on the part of the facilitators to have this be effective. For those students who find their passion in this area, they will be allowed to increase their training. We will require that the students put in some sweat equity and volunteer time to demonstrate their level of responsibility, commitment and compassion for their clients-all aspects of good citizenship.
 * provide a healthy life style option. The provincial Department of Health recognizes the increasing need for healthy living options in our youth made evident by the new “GetWellnessSoon” media campaign. Although many students are involved in traditional physical activities such as basketball, hockey and football, there remains an ever increasing segment of youth who are not interested in the mainstream and are more attracted to adventure and X-games type activities. At the moment, these individuals are left to their own initiatives to participate in these activities and many are never exposed to such possibilities. Providing a place for such a student to participate in an organized, supervised, and controlled environment will certainly be a positive use of their time and promote an alternative form of healthy living for a currently underserved population of our students.
 * provide opportunity for individual and group growth. In the past our educational system has stressed individual effort and to reach the majority. Adventure programming addresses the personal growth of the individual and the group. Individuals are presented with tasks where there is a perceived risk, where failure is almost certain initially. However, positive peer pressure and continuous access to the facility allows for multiple trials and gives the individual a chance to practice perserverance and ultimately success. Students are able to see practical examples where pride does not come from “heights obtained, but challenges overcome”. Many of these lessons are taught to many on the fields, courts and rinks of our sporting community as well as in the living rooms of every musical instrument lesson. However, in addition to taking a number of these individuals who already have an arena to practice perserverance, there are ever increasingly numbers of individuals who find themselves stagnating in lack of challenge.
 * Provide research that identifies best practices. Adventure programming has been a hot cultural topic and a growing trend in the psychological worlds. Many well meaning individuals have attempted to adopt such programs, but have not investigated truly effective best practices. Many of the activities are based on personal experience and philosophy as opposed to firm research. We have partnered with two university programs to increase the knowledge base in this area and to share our findings with other practitioners around the province. UNB has started a graduate program that is specifically looking for a source of data to study. We can provide this source of data effectively and efficiently in return for the increased ability of our program.
 * Provide certified training for students and adults. Ecotourism and adventure tourism is on the rise in New Brunswick with programs jumping up all over the place at Cape Enrage, Camp Centennial, Grand Mannan, St Martins, Buctouche, and Sussex to name just a few. Most of these are seasonal in nature and would be excellent sources of student employment. However, the level of training required for such jobs is very specialized and largely absent in the pool of student candidates. It is our goal to produce certified student employees who would then be able to acquire these growing job opportunities.
 * Provide a link between high school and NBCC or University. Many students are unaware that there are NBCC and university opportunities in adventure. These range from professional guides, business owners, adventure therapy and kinesiology applications. This program would help to provide a link to such programs and enlighten the students with non-traditional employability options.
 * Provide a facility to reach the outcomes of the outdoor pursuits curriculum document. The outdoor pursuits document requires that a number of outdoor activities are practiced and that the technical skills to do these safely as a healthly living choices be presented. The shortness of the school day and the timing of the school year do not lend themselves to readily teach many of these activities. Our changing weather patterns are making some of the traditional winter sports less likely. We have not been able to offer snowshoeing or cross country skiing in 2 years. Therefore, we need to provide a facility where students from all over the district can experience the curriculum in which it was intended without having to worry about the weather, individual budgets, or conflicting time tables. Our indoor climbing wall and electronic scheduler will provide for these situations. The high ropes course will be particularly useful during the many months when it is too warm for snow activities, but not warm enough for water activities.