Area youth can look forward to learning teamwork by facing physical challenges in the outdoors, thanks to a trio of YMCA grants.

Chimacum Middle School, the Jefferson County 4-H and the YMCA of Jefferson County were recent recipients of the YMCA Dennis Watson Spirit of TEAM Fund to support their team-building projects in 2019.

The three grant awardees have similar methods of fostering teamwork through mentorships and low-ropes challenge courses in Washington state.

Chimacum Middle School received $1,500 to support the continuation of its annual three-day retreat to Cispus Learning Center for the entire sixth-grade class.

Jefferson County 4-H received $1,000 to support facilitator trainings at Gibbs Lake challenge course, and the YMCA of Jefferson County received $2,150 to support the recruitment of challenge course mentors through its Building Futures program.

Chimacum Middle School teacher Al Gonzalez said the school’s sixth-grade classes have taken part in Cispus programs at Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Lewis County for at least 33 years.

“We didn’t want the next group of sixth-graders to be the first who were told, ‘No, you can’t go,’” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez credited the Cispus program with helping Chimacum sixth-graders develop a “shared language” of problem-solving, and helping Chimacum Middle School teachers get to know their new students more quickly.

“The kids who have gone through it really hit the ground running,” Gonzalez said. “They experienced frustration, but it taught them ways around it. Just about all of our sixth-graders say it’s one of the best experiences they’ve ever had.”

Gonzalez said high school students have expressed equal enthusiasm for serving as mentors to the sixth-graders who go through the program.

Even though sixth grade will shift from being the youngest in middle school to the oldest in elementary school in Chimacum during the 2019-20 school year, Gonzalez believes the program will continue to be offered to sixth-graders.

Tanya Barnett, 4-H coordinator for the WSU Extension of Jefferson County, said the grant money they receive will help train facilitators for the low-ropes challenge course at Gibbs Lake.

While Gonzalez touted the development of coordinated, effective responses in the Chimacum students who complete such a course, Barnett emphasized the trust-building aspect of such exercises.

“While it offers physical challenges, that’s not its primary purpose,” Barnett said. “To solve problems in a team, you need trust. Through this program, they can build social and emotional skills, and consent to risks in a safely structured environment.”

Barnett said the Gibbs Lake course represents reinstatement of a program, rather than a continuation of a program that never stopped running.

“About five years ago, it got to the point where there weren’t enough certificated staff to maintain the course,” Barnett said. “This is the only low-ropes course on the Olympic Peninsula.”

Barnett aims to make the Gibbs Lake challenge course an annual event, not only for fifth-graders but also for sixth- through eighth-graders.

Dana Nixon, program coordinator for Building Futures, sees the challenge course as one way the YMCA of Jefferson County can foster relationships between volunteer mentors and students from Port Townsend, Chimacum and Quilcene.

“We have about two dozen matches of mentors and students,” Nixon said. “It teaches them the basics of how to form a friendship by providing them with a supportive outside influence.”

Nixon said students often are referred to Building Futures by their school districts and are tasked with evaluating their own experiences, both during the challenge course and in general.

“We ask them, ‘What happened? What did you learn?’” Nixon said.

Barnett added: “We try to help them see how they can apply those lessons to the rest of their lives.”

Although Nixon would love to see more high school aged mentors, she acknowledged high school students tend to be busy, so most of their mentors are retired adults.

“We also need more male mentors, because most of the students who are referred to us are boys,” Nixon said. “Lots of women can keep up with stuff like kickball and hoops, but being mentored by another man can make for an easier connection point.”