Nolan Thomas is a student at Greater Latrobe who completed his third year at Outdoor Odyssey this summer. Outdoor Odyssey is made up of many different programs, such as Leadership Academy, Mentoring, Junior Leadership and Ambassador Program, JROTC programs, Semper Fi Odyssey, Semper Fi Kids Camp, Camp Cadet, field trips, teambuilding, and African Odyssey.
This summer, he took part in the Leadership Academy and mentoring for a second time. He claims to have “learned to be a leader” through his “counselor’s mentorship” during the Leadership Academy. During Leadership Academy, rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors will take on many obstacles to take them outside of their comfort zones and help them develop leadership qualities. The young leaders will have counselors to teach, encourage, and guide them through all the obstacles that they must face. They will complete a challenging week, which includes an overnight stay after a long hike on the mountain, they will zipline and rappel off a 50-foot tower, rock climb, and complete a high ropes course 25-35 feet off the ground.
Outdoor Odyssey helped him experience growth through an activity where cabins were blindfolded and taken to a rope. When they arrive, they are tasked with finding the end of the rope. They have two questions they can ask: “Is this the end of the rope?” and “Can I have some help?”. The trick to the activity is the fact that there is no end of the rope; the blindfold will be removed when you ask, “Can I have some help?”. This activity is designed to teach the young leaders to ask for help when needed and to encourage them to do so more often.
Camp has taught Nolan leadership qualities through activities, like the rope, and through philosophies. There are many philosophies emphasized at camp to show leaders important aspects and viewpoints on everyday decisions and interactions they will have. The philosophy that has spoken to him the most is a philosophy called Thirty-One Flavors. This philosophy is based on Baskin-Robbins’ thirty-one flavor menu. Each flavor represents a different personality. Similar to how everyone likes different flavors of ice cream, each person has different preferences that help make up their personality. Thirty-one flavors represents how everyone is different, but they further expand on the idea by teaching everyone to respect each other’s ‘flavors’, or differences.
Nolan used all that he learned in the Leadership Academy when he came back to be a part of the mentorship program. The mentorship program enables high schoolers to take on a mentoring role by helping out elementary-aged students with having someone to look up to and a person to help them throughout the year with school, whether that be academically or socially. The students’ week will mainly consist of ziplining, climbing, a low ropes course, a day at the pond, a hike, and learning to build a natural shelter. They will also learn about many different philosophies with their mentors, play games to help them get closer to their mentors and make friends, and participate in other activities like movie nights or dance parties to create unforgettable memories. Throughout the week, the campers and mentors will build strong bonds that will help them when they leave the mountain and continue to keep in touch throughout the year.
