schools Archives - Waypoint Adventure MA

Carter School Partnership

March 2, 2020/in Uncategorized

At Waypoint Adventure, we talk about the importance of community all the time. There is no better example of this than on our programs with the Carter School. The Carter School is a Boston Public School high school for students with both severe, intensive disabilities and complex health needs. Carter students and their families participated in hiking and kayaking programs last spring. Three communities came together to make these programs possible: the Carter School, the Snowden International School, and Waypoint Adventure.

All Carter students and their families were given the chance to participate on a program in the Blue Hills on one of three days dedicated to hiking. Many students from the Carter School got to hike for the first time alongside peers from another BPS school, the Snowden International School. Snowden students learned how to push and pull some of Waypoint’s specialized off road wheelchairs, so Carter School students’ family members who usually are responsible for their child’s care at home had a chance to enjoy the hike without having to do any of the pushing. We had three great hiking days full of learning mapping skills, getting to know each other, and exploring nature (including smelling skunk cabbage). Since these hikes, we have loved finding out that Snowden students continue to volunteer at the Carter School for special events, further strengthening the relationship between the two schools.

The final program of the partnership is one of the biggest Waypoint has ever run! It was a cookout and kayaking day at Hale Reservation to celebrate the end of the school year. Families were welcome to join their child for the day. We had almost 70 people on that program! Carter students and their parents and siblings all got to try kayaking on Noanet Pond with experienced Waypoint volunteers. We all had a blast trying something new together!

Check out our pictures from these programs. We feel so lucky to be able to participate in this amazing partnership, and we cannot wait to watch these communities come together again to make these programs happen this spring!

New Partnership with Riverview School!

October 8, 2019/in Kayaking, Latest News

New partnership alert! We’re working with Riverview School now! Riverview is a private boarding/day school founded in 1957 on Cape Cod for students with complex learning, language, and cognitive disabilities. We’re working with the GROW Adventure Club – students in post-high school transition who are interested in adventure, challenges, and the outdoors. We’re thrilled by this new partnership and a new place to run programs on the Cape!

Four big adventures are planned for this school year with the goals of challenging students with new and exciting adventures, and also opening up places and opportunities they can come back to in their local community to experience again! Our kick-off to the series was this evening kayaking program, but we’re also planning a winter hiking-weekend, an outdoor rock-climbing program, and a summer camping/kayaking weekend! Check out our sunset paddle on Wequaquet Lake in Barnstable!

We were impressed by the teamwork and care for each other this community demonstrated. One pair in particular made huge strides. When they were having a lot of trouble steering their boat, they became so frustrated that they just stopped paddling all-together. The rest of the group stopped too and offered tips and advice! This pair listened well and got to calm down, and then slowly but surely, they began to keep their boat straight and work as a team without getting frustrated with each other!

On the way back to shore, one of the students said, “This was harder than I thought it was going to be and my shoulders are pretty tired, but I feel great about what I did and that we were finally able to keep the boat straight!” We love the grit this team displayed and we can’t wait to see this team grow through more “first-time” challenges and exciting adventures! Stay tuned for our Winter Hiking Weekend!

Thank you again to Riverview for allowing us to work with your students and the Town of Barnstable for letting use Wequaquet Lake.

It’s A Wrap! Somerville 2019

June 12, 2019/in Hiking, Kayaking, Past Programs, Rock Climbing, Ropes Course, Schools, Series

24 Programs! Our biggest partnership ever! What an awesome year it has been with the thriving Special Education Department of Somerville Public Schools. Thanks to a Cummings Foundation grant the Somerville SPED Department received and the tireless efforts of Wellness Coordinator and friend, Caitlin Kelly, Waypoint was BACK in Somerville for the 2018-2019 school year designing and facilitating quality adventure-education programs for 19 different classes across the district. Social-Emotional Learning was happening on these programs: students immersed in problem solving scenarios, supported by the process of learning and community, and given the right to take on challenging experiences and we saw it in action – the perfect recipe for character building come to life.

These programs were not just work for us. The buy-in from teachers and administrators made this series a joy to facilitate. We even had volunteers come out on one program and come back again and again and again because of how much fun they had just being a part of these days! Shoutout to Jim Bradley, Sylvana Weinstein, and some awesome repeat groups from Definitive Cares and The Shady Hill School. This community is vibrant and excelling because of your support!

You HAVE to peruse some of the pictures below. It felt like a family photo album putting these together and laughing about ridiculous things that happened on programs and awesome students, teachers, and volunteers we met along the way. Here are some snapshots from all of the programs we ran with Somerville during 2018-2019:

10/25/18 Ropes Course at Hale Reservation

11/14/18 Hike in the Middlesex Fells

12/19/18 Indoor Rock Climbing at Central Rock Watertown

1/9/19 Indoor Rock Climbing at Central Rock Watertown

1/11/19 Hike at Prospect Hill in Waltham

1/15/19 Indoor Rock Climbing at Central Rock Watertown

1/23/19 Hike at Ward Reservation in Andover

1/30/19 Indoor Kayaking at the Kennedy School in Somerville

2/5/19 Hike at Ward Reservation in Andover

2/13/19 Indoor Kayaking at the Kennedy School in Somerville

2/27/19 Indoor Kayaking at the Kennedy School in Somerville

3/19/19 Hike at Harold Parker State Forest in Andover

3/27/19 Indoor Kayaking at the Kennedy School in Somerville

3/28/19 Indoor Rock Climbing at Central Rock Watertown

4/2/19 Outdoor Rock Climbing at Hammond Pond in Newton

4/10/19 Hike at Breakheart Reservation in Wakefield

4/24/19 Hike at Lynn Woods in Lynn

5/1/19 Indoor Rock Climbing at Central Rock Watertown

5/15/19 Hike at Lynn Woods in Lynn

5/16/19 Hike at Prospect Hill in Waltham

5/23/19 Outdoor Rock Climbing at Hammond Pond in Newton

5/24/19 Hike at Breakheart Reservation in Wakefield

5/29/19 Indoor Kayaking at the Kennedy School in Somerville

6/5/19 Kayaking on the Charles River in Allston

We can’t thank our site partners from Central Rock Gym, Paddle Boston – Charles River Canoe and Kayak, Kennedy School Pool, and Massachusetts DCR enough for supporting this programming. THANK YOU!

And THANK YOU to all the students for participating, and the teachers and administrators that helped coordinate transportation, get forms filled out, opened the pool, and made sure adventure programming fit seamlessly into your curriculum. We believe it’s so important and it’s encouraging to see others agree. Looking forward to next year!

Increasing Communication

January 22, 2019/in Uncategorized

One of our favorite moments to witness is when a student surprises their teacher. These students from Somerville, all on the autism spectrum, climbed with Waypoint this week and were using this custom-designed adventure-education program to work on communication. Ayman had just learned recently how to communicate “Yes” and “No” on his picture board, so his teacher was almost in tears when he came down from his first climb and audibly said “More! I want more!” This was unprompted, spontaneous communication! Adventures like rock climbing really do bring out emerging skills and create opportunities for growth!

Click to see video of Ayman saying “I want more” and check out pictures of the rest of his class practicing communication while rock climbing at Central Rock Gym in Watertown.

That’s A Wrap! Somerville 2017-2018

June 26, 2018/in Kayaking, Schools, Uncategorized

Another school term in the books! Over the past year, Waypoint Adventure has had the privilege to work with over 13 special education classes from all over the Somerville Public School system. Seven program types were run (ropes course, indoor/outdoor rock climbing, indoor kayaking, hiking, snowshoeing and team building), which gave over 100 students the opportunity to experience adventure!

For most of participants, this was their first time ever going on a hike or rock climbing or to a ropes course. Roughly 92% of the students from Somerville that came out on an adventure program with us were experiencing that type of adventure for the first time. There is a real need to get more kids out in nature, on adventures and into their local community!

We are so grateful to have worked with such incredible students, facility, and administration this year at Somerville Public Schools. Thank you to all the volunteers and coordinators that made these programs possible and so successful. But…It’s not over yet!!

Thanks to a very generous grant given by the Cummings Foundation to the Somerville Public Schools, we are excited about the potential of continued programming with SPS!”

Here are some pictures of the last program we ran with Somerville Public Schools:

April 2018: Indoor Kayaking; Thanks for volunteering Definitive Cares!

To see our other posts about Somerville Public Schools, click the links below:

Beginning-year Somerville Programs

Mid-year Somerville Programs

Cotting School + Waypoint = Strong Partnership

June 21, 2018/in Annnouncements, Hiking, Schools, Uncategorized

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 2 years since we entered into one of the most supportive and successful partnerships we’ve ever had. On June 21st, 2016 we moved onto the campus of Cotting School in Lexington, MA and it’s been hugely successful. The way it works is: We provide some after school team-building activities, occasional adventure programs and weekly vocational opportunities for their students and Cotting provides us with a place to call home; and what a place it is!

As one of the many added benefits, we get a chance to build relationships with students from Cotting, many of whom join us on adventure programs throughout the year. One example of this is seen in the fact that 4 of the 11 Leaders In Training participants from 2017 were Cotting students or alumni! Other benefits include access to Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists and highly skilled Special Education teachers that allow us to seek advice, learn and improve the impact of Waypoint’s adventure programming.

We are so grateful for the amazing Cotting School community and the support they’ve shown us over these last few years. We’re looking forward toward many more years of deepening and expanding this partnership for the benefit of Cotting students and Waypoint participants!

As mentioned above, Cotting students work at Waypoint throughout the school year as part of the their vocational study. Students this year packed equipment and gear for programs, unpacked, took inventory, stamped envelopes for mass mailings, and more. To honor these hard working students, we did two hikes this June at Meadow Brook in Belmont. Check out these pics from our adventures!

A Community in Newton that cares about adventure-learning

June 7, 2018/in Kayaking, Schools, Uncategorized

It’s encouraging to discover a community that embraces new opportunities so whole-heartedly. Teachers at Newton North High School have fully bought into the idea of adventure-learning and are pulling the strings to make it happen. From allowing us to bring kayaks into the pool to providing life-guards for the program, to going into the community to seek funding, Newton North impressed us and the students followed cue. Nine students from the Community Connections program came to the pool to fully embrace the exciting but scary experience of trying something new – kayaking in a pool!

This group challenged themselves in major ways. There was even a moment where each student was put on the spot to try to flip their boat over and do a “wet exit” while everyone watched and cheered. And everyone did it!

A huge thanks to Village Bank for funding this program and the volunteer team from Liberty Mutual’s “Serve with Liberty”. You’re helping make life-learning opportunities happen and contributing to a community that embraces adventure for all!

Arlington Boys and Girls Club opens it’s doors

May 2, 2018/in Kayaking, Schools

For the second year in a row, students from Dallin Elementary School sought out a big adventure with Waypoint and the first time ever, we got to host it at the Arlington Boys and Girls Club. The Dallin School, part of Arlington Public Schools, values experiential education at it’s core. And especially in the Dallin’s Supported Learning Center, teachers, parents, and administrators have fought to make adventure-learning part of their curriculum. They see the power it has on their students! Even just one adventure creates opportunities for learning and growth that translate back in the classroom!

When Waypoint approached the Arlington Boys and Girls Club’s Aquatic program, their staff was all on board. We’re all grateful for a new place to run Indoor Kayaking programs and a space that students can come back to that’s in their own back yard.

Check out these students as they learned how to kayak in the pool. All while focusing on the importance of taking courage (one of the Dallin Core Values). We’re thankful for partnerships like these!

Custom Designed Curriculum

March 13, 2018/in Kayaking, Schools, Series, Uncategorized, Volunteer

If you know anything about HOW Waypoint Adventure programs take form and shape, hopefully the words “custom-designed” come to mind. Our adventures are adapted to meet the needs and goals of the particular individual or group we’re working with. And while there’s a whole lot of individualized instruction that takes place on the day of the program, sometimes the themes or big concepts stay generally consistent to the tried-and-true concepts we’ve found work really well for certain age groups. At the Mario Umana Academy in East Boston, for example, we’ve been working with their 2nd through 8th grade classes for 7 years and we’ve kept generally the same curriculum running: When it comes to the 4th & 5th grade class, they get a curriculum centered on Teamwork every winter. Through an adventure-education model that balances their academic work, they discover how to work together with one another.

But when we met with Ms. B, the teacher of this 4th-5th grade group, she said, “Actually, I’d rather not do Teamwork this year. My students don’t need more ‘working together…’ I’m trying to get them to NOT work so closely together.” And just like that “custom designed” took precedence. We threw out the playbook and started from scratch. This group had a unique set of needs! And their adventure-education curriculum needed to capitalize on that. Their goal was PERSEVERANCE. Things that are hard for us, can actually be GOOD for us. And in order to do things that are hard, we need perseverance! We need the ability to stick through a task, not give up, call upon strategies like asking for help, and develop resilience and grit.

So through a series of adventures and team-building sessions at school, this class got chance after chance to show perseverance. Check it out:

It started with an activity identifying (personally) what’s easy vs what’s hard. Even things in the “HARD” column like doing chores or brushing our teeth are GOOD for us. Hard things require perseverance.

The next week we went for a hike in the Blue Hills and MAN WAS IT COLD. We packed extra clothes and kept moving – not even stopping for a lunch midway through. It definitely put perseverance into action!

The next week, we started talking about specific strategies. When things get frustrating, what can we do instead of “giving-up”? Asking for help, taking a break, or positive self-talk are all good strategies. A challenging but exciting cup-stacking competition was the perfect illustration.

For our last adventure, we took perseverance to the pool – learning kayak skills like how to make the boat go where we want it to go and not giving up! This day was possible thanks to our valued corporate partner, Definitive Cares! A huge thanks goes out to 11 volunteers that met us in East Boston and did a fabulous job working with this group.

And lastly, we recounted all our hard work. We discovered that hard things really are good for us. Perseverance is a crucial skill to have when it comes to conquering challenges and sticking with important tasks. Through perseverance we can learn, have better patience, maintain better relationships, and develop skills we didn’t have before.

It was an awesome series with this class and an important reminder to all of us that “custom-designed” curriculum is valuable.

Somerville Makes Outdoor Education a Priority

March 5, 2018/in Hiking, Latest News, Past Programs, Rock Climbing, Ropes Course, Schools, Series

Outdoor Education within schools is proven to work. Students learn and perform to their potential when they are confident, self-esteem is high, cooperation is strong, and students feel like they belong. At Waypoint, we know this works when Adventure-Education is integrated into a classroom curriculum over the course of a semester, but in Somerville, we’ve learned how much of an impact it has on one classroom even just one time! Somerville Special Education teachers keep speaking up: “When can my class go on an adventure!?” These programs – a day of rock climbing, a hike, a ropes course – all enhance the process of learning. Kids who persevere on a rock wall and achieve success or the encouragement of their classmates have created a lasting memory (or a “waypoint”) that reminds them to persevere through a math problem or writing assignment!

The 2017-2018 school year has brought BIG success, achievement, and impact to Somerville Public School’s Special Education program. Students are feeling empowered, supported, and, of course, having fun! Even Somerville News Weekly did a piece on our adventures:

Check out pictures and stories from the school-year thus far:

A huge thanks to educators of Somerville Public Schools, the PEP Grant, parents, students, volunteers and countless others. These programs are made possible with a group effort!

Tag Archive for: schools