Benefits of a Challenge Course Experience

• Enhances patterns of group communication.
• Strengthens group formation through participation in a common experience.
• Encourages operation as a team through group problem-solving.
• Increases trust and awareness of other group members.
• Provides a practice space for leadership to emerge.
• Provides motivation to make positive behavior changes.

Value to Your Team and Organization

• Develop effective teams and team leadership skills.
• Individuals gain knowledge and understanding of teams’ collective strengths as well as areas for improvement.
• Identify successful problem-solving techniques.
• Identify individual motivators, personality characteristics, and conflict resolution styles.
• Springboard for performance improvement initiatives and sustaining change in the workplace.

Safety first!

The focus of the Challenge Course is to allow a safe environment for individuals to move away from their comfort zones, stretch boundaries, and learn concepts by experiencing them.  The facilitators present Challenge by Choice early in the program in which people are encouraged to try new things (challenge), and to set their own level of participation (choice), and then guide the group in creating and upholding physical and emotional safety guidelines.  With the group support individuals are empowered to decide their level of participation in all activities.

On- or off-site, your safety is uppermost in our minds. All Peninsula College Challenge Course facilitators have gone through a 40-hour core-training program, with specific instruction on each challenge element. In addition, each staff member is trained in first-aid, CPR, and high-rescue procedures.  Facilitators are also provided with on-going in-house training as well.  They are recertified in all training and rescue elements annually by a certified ACCT vendor.

The Challenge Course is a member of Association for Challenge Course Technology (ACCT), Northwest Challenge Course Network (NCCN), and Association of Experiential Education (AEE).  The course elements and equipment are inspected by staff before and after each program and go through an annual inspection by a certified ACCT vendor.   

 Custom Programs for Ultimate Learning

 The challenges presented on the course encourage thinking, listening, and learning together! 

At the Peninsula College Challenge Course, you may be challenged in a variety of ways.  Physical strength and fitness are not a basis for achieving success on our course.  Course leaders present activities in a manner that increases each individual’s ability to work as part of a group and to recognize the value of their own contributions.  

Every Challenge Course adventure is custom designed to fit your group’s dynamics and goals.  Examples of goals might be to improve communication, develop more efficient problem solving, enhance leadership, or refine decision-making skills. Your group could also explore risk taking, conflict resolution, and anger management issues while building group cohesiveness and trust.  Challenge Course experiences also are known to boost self-confidence, increase self-esteem, encourage creativity, and promote flexibility.

 What You Take with You 

The benefits of participation don’t end at the close of the day. 

While outcomes are very specific to each group, most teams often experience increased levels of trust and a sense of group accomplishment.  Participants frequently report gaining personal insights as well as increased respect and understanding for other group members, enabling them to work more effectively together.  

Insights learned at the course are transferred and applied to real life.  What you take away from the Challenge Course will help your team rise to new heights of performance.

Challenge Course Features 

• 7 high elements  
• 15 low elements
• Team climbing wall
• Customized training to meet your goals
• Variable length, multiple-day package programs
• Highly skilled facilitators specializing in different age/type groups
• Optional follow-up sessions
• Portable Challenge Course that can be provided at any location
• Adventure based/Thematic programs

Participant Testimonies

 “If I had not attended the Challenge Course program, I would have never been given a desire to reach beyond myself to become something bigger . . . “

            -Peninsula College Student

 “Not only did this experience give me an opportunity to get to know my colleagues much better, but it gave me analogies that will help me improve my performance in the workplace.”

            -Program Manager for Department of Corrections

  “The Challenge Course taught me the value of teamwork, self-perseverance and the value of others.”

            -Americorps Volunteer

 “The Challenge Course was both a personal and professional growth experience for me.  Each time I go through it I learn something new about myself and my team.”

            - Consultant for Performance Institute

 “We have been busing our students from Seattle to the Peninsula College Challenge Course for five years.  We have tried other Challenge Course programs in the past but have never seen the quality of programming that Peninsula College provides anywhere else.”

            - Principal for The Northwest School

 “Our experience was educational and exciting, as we learned to lean on one another for support to reach our goals . . .”

                        - New Chance Program

Business Programs

 Take a group of dynamic people and give them an experience that is not only challenging, fun, exciting, and educational but relevant to their organizational needs.  Bring them back to the day-to-day world of management, goal setting, decision-making, and accountability and watch what happens.

 Learning through Experience

 The heart of Peninsula College Challenge Course is learning by doing.  Participants progress through a graduated series of exercises that require four critical elements: joint effort, good planning, efficient use of resources and communication.

 Because actions and outcomes occur in quick succession, the consequences of decision-making are very real and very obvious.  The team reflects on each experience and applies the learning to increasingly complex exercises.  This type of experiential learning generates personal and group insights in ways that no other form of training can.

In essence, the Peninsula College Challenge Course learning process creates an environment that:

• Develops core teamwork competencies of collaboration, cooperation, and effective communication.
• Clarifies personal and team goals and values.
• Stimulates interpersonal and leadership development.
• Improves confidence and self-reliance and accountability to others.
• Increases capacity to adapt to change.
• Provides a working model for team and individual success.

 Self Development is Organizational Development

 It is well known that the tangible human resources such as spirit, motivation, and effort make the real difference in a company or organization.  Over time it’s the professional competence of your staff that leads to success.  Traditional management training is valuable but often does little to contribute to a central core of attitudes, values, and behaviors that can profoundly affect the outcome of an organization’s efforts. 

 Engaging the Whole Person

 Lasting learning must involve three fundamental areas of human potential: physical, emotional, and mental.  By tapping into all three areas, Peninsula College Challenge Course delivers learning that explores the “face values” of these fundamental areas as well as those intangible resources that further define how people function.  The Peninsula College Challenge Course process of group development is a dynamic and interactive approach.  All activities presented are well within the reach of the average non-active person.

 The Benefits

 You want tangible results from the time and money you invest in personnel and development.  Our programs are designed to:

• Create heightened awareness of the power of, and need for, teamwork.
• Create effective utilization of strengths, both individual and team.
• Enhance problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Increase morale and self-confidence for teams and individuals.
• Develop leadership skills appropriate to a wide variety of situations.

 Each program is customized according to client needs or objectives, based on intake interview, and can be delivered on the stationary course at the Peninsula College campus or through our portable program delivered at the customer’s location of choice.  Programs can be as short as one hour or as long as multi-day sessions.  This program is highly flexible and can accommodate a wide variety of client requests.

Youth Programs

 You are standing in a minefield of “mousetraps” and extremely dangerous “rubber chickens,” precariously balancing your team’s bucket full of dreams.  The blindfold you are wearing blocks out the many pitfalls and various hazards strewn around your feet.  You are focused on listening to the voices of your teammates who are guiding you to the other side.  You and your team have developed a strategy that will enable each of you to pass through the minefields without upsetting the obstacles in your way.  One step at a time you move forward, until at last you reach the safety zone.  As you step onto the platform you breathe a sigh of relief, and your team members cheer your effort! 

This is the Peninsula College Challenge Course.

 The Peninsula College Challenge Course offers an exciting learning opportunity that can help transform a group of youth into a high functioning team.  Learning concepts through experiencing them is an incredible teaching tool.  Youth can build and strengthen relationships, learn team skills, and explore their talents and abilities, or just have fun!

 Whether it’s a troop of Boy Scouts, the high school football team, or a group of students, every youth can benefit from participating in this adventurous experience!

Fee Schedule

 For more information call Trudy Robbins at (360) 417-6452 or mailto:trudyr@pcadmin.ctc.edu.

Directions to the Challenge Course

Driving West on Hwy 101 

• As you enter Port Angeles on Hwy 101, the road will split into two one-way streets.  The westbound street turns into Front Street (as well as Hwy 101 west).  Continue to the first stoplight past McDonalds (about 3-4 blocks). 
• Take a left at the light (Ennis Street).  Continue through the next light on up the hill. 
• Ennis Street comes to a “T” intersection, turn left. 
• Stay right and wind up the hill until you reach Lauridsen Blvd. (should see the main parking lot and the front of campus). 
• Take a right on Lauridsen Blvd. and go to the far west end of the parking lot, where there is a road that connects Lauridsen Blvd. and Park Ave. 
• Turn left and cut across the end of the parking lot, turning right on Park Ave. and then left between the edge of campus and the Bonneville substation (this is a service road and does not have a name). 
• This road will take you around the back of campus.  Follow this road until you reach the tennis courts.  The Challenge Course is located at the SW corner of the tennis courts.  You will see a picnic table and a small brown building. 
• You can park in any unassigned area.
• Visual maps can be located at http://www.pc.ctc.edu/   

 Driving East on Hwy. 101 

• As you enter Port Angeles on Hwy 101, you will go under two overpasses.  Approximately a half mile from the second overpass you will see Albertsons grocery store. 
• Take a right on Laurel Street, which is the street that borders the west side of the store.
• Go up the hill and take a left on Park Avenue.  This will take you past the Port Angeles High School.
• Continue along Park Avenue for approximately one mile.  Once you have stopped at the stop sign on Race Street, continue along Park Avenue until you see the Bonneville Substation on your right.
• Take a right on the road (this is a service road and does not have a name) that sits between the back of the substation and the edge of the college campus.
• This road will take you around the back of campus.  Follow this road until you reach the tennis courts.  The Challenge Course is located at the SW corner of the tennis courts.  You will see a picnic table and a small brown building. 
• You can park in any unassigned area.
• Visual maps can be located at http://www.pc.ctc.edu/   
   

Guidelines for the Consumer

The purpose of this document is to assist the consumer of adventure/challenge programs in the selection of safe, high-quality programs and is provided as a service to consumers by the Northwest Challenge Course Network.  It is recommended you discuss these questions with the challenge course manager and answer them to your satisfaction.

Program:  These questions address the quality of the program and the way the program will assure the quality of your experience.

1. Does the staff have experience and knowledge of the type of group you will be bringing to the course?
2. Will the program allow you to visit their site before signing a contract?
3. How will the staff foster an environment where learning is supported by all in the group?
4. With what organizations is the program affiliated? (Association for Challenge Course Technology, Association of Experiential Education, American Camping Association, Northwest Challenge Course Network, etc.)
5. With what other organizations and groups have the staff worked with?
6. What other kinds of teaching or client centered work do they do?
7. How do staff stay abreast of current standards and techniques?
8. How will the program value the needs of your particular group?
9. How will the staff assess and meet the needs of your group?
10. Does the program carry general liability insurance covering the Challenge Course?
11. Can the Challenge Course give references?

 Safety:  These questions address the manner in which the program maintains a safe environment. 

1. Where, when and by who were the staff trained in adventure/challenge course activities?
2. when did the course do its last internal and external inspection and safety reviews?
3. What level of first aid and CPR certification do the staff have?
4. What medical and liability forms does the program require for each participant before the start of the Challenge Course experience?
5. If the program works with youth, do they require program staff to have a state background check?
6. Are safety procedures documented in the facility’s program manual?
7. Is the site accredited or pursuing the accreditation by the Association of Experiential Education, Wilderness Education Association, American Camping Association, Project Adventure, or another organization?
8. Does the program maintain a regular training program and have a training manual?  Does the training manual contain the policies and procedures for running adventure/challenge programs on their site?