Outdoors benefits aspirations message

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With 38 middle-school and high-school students sitting, lying or sprawling at his feet, Dave Goldsworthy paced back and forth, flip-flops flipping, and reinforced the lesson of the day to an attentive group.

Make that mostly attentive.

“Who yawned,” Goldsworthy suddenly snapped in mock anger that sounded even more humorous given his natural New Zealand accent.

“Is that boring?” he asked, as giggles started to erupt all around him. “For that, you are going to get a moustache.”

Goldsworthy quickly spun around, grabbed a nearby marker, and descended on the once-yawning (and now laughing) girl.

For the record, the girl never did get her moustache. Goldsworthy instead marked her with a smiley face that aptly sums up his approach to teaching.

Have fun. Make good choices. Challenge yourself. Live above the line.

Goldsworthy, a youth aspirations specialist, was at Camp Beech Cliff on Mount Desert Island this week as the keynote speaker for a winter adventure run by the University of Maine’s National Center for Student Aspirations.

The program, which focused on building self-confidence and encouraging students to move outside their comfort zones, combined outdoor skills and indoor work to deliver a powerful, positive message to the students.

And all around Camp Beech Cliff, the message was being received … loud and clear.

“It’s amazing. Totally different. It’s the kind of opportunity to learn that we would never get back home,” 16-year-old Celia Rooney said.

Rooney and three others had traveled from Glasgow, Scotland, for the program, and joined Mainers from seven schools.

Those schools have programs in place that address aspirations and try to teach leadership skills to students.

Goldsworthy began the three-day event with a presentation on Thursday night that introduced campers to the above-the-line, below-the-line concept.

Goldworthy said the simple construct is an effective way of defining actions and choices that campers may face in their everyday lives.

“Choices that we make below the line have negative consequences, and choices that we make above the line return us with positive consequences,” he said.

The trip wasn’t really about outdoor education, but outdoor education was a key component.

Kevin McPhee of the NCSA said outdoor activities naturally provide an opportunity to teach the program’s core values.

“We find that using a lot of outdoor learning is really advantageous to reach these types of goals,” McPhee said. “So we’re using that type of tool to do that.”

Students in the program are paired in a mentor-prot?g? system, with older students taking an active role in the lives of a younger student.

Tim McQuarrie, a prot?g? from Milo (at his school, mentors are “bears” and proteges are “cubs”) said the program has been worthwhile.

“I wanted to get my grades better, and I thought it would be cool to have a mentor, someone I could look up to, somone I could talk to,” McQuarrie said.

Phil Brown, a guidance counselor at Penquis Valley High School in Milo, said the NCSA program has become very popular at his school: 40 students now take part as “bears” or “cubs.”

“The mentors are learning incredible skills,” Brown said. “They’re learning excellent communication skills, they’re learning how to relate to people better, how to build relationships, learning responsibility.”

And this week, they were learning those skills in the outdoors, and testing themselves in activities that many had never attempted.

Goldsworthy said that provided a fantastic learning atmosphere.

“Once you get outside, or even here in the building, there are no family hang-ups, no school hang-ups,” Goldsworthy said. “You get rid of all the peripherals, and it gets a lot simpler.”

Outdoor items up for auction

You may not be in the market for a Florida vacation … yet. You may not be looking for any new art for your home … yet. And you may not really, truly, be quite ready to learn how to tie your own flies … yet.

Come Monday, however, you might be. Especially when you find out that we here at the BDN are giving you the opportunity to bid on all those prizes (and, as they say on TV) much, much more!

Here’s the deal: Our Newspapers In Education program is conducting its first-ever on-line auction, and there are plenty of top-notch products and services up for grabs.

NIE provides newspapers for classroom use, and introduces students of all ages to the educational value of newspapers. In addition, the NIE program offers teacher training, curriculum guides, tours, and class visits to educators throughout our readership area.

The auction items have been donated by businesses in our circulation area, and proceeds will be used for classroom subscriptions.

My personal favorite item up for grabs (for obvious reasons) is a package we put together just for fly fishers.

First, we thought about sending a lucky (or not-so-lucky) angler out in my (semi-) trustworthy boat for a day of fishing fun.

A quick talk with the grownups here at 491 Main Street convinced us that probably wasn’t such a great idea.

Then we decided to do something safer. Theoretically. We hope.

We contacted Don Corey, the owner of Annika Rod & Fly, and also a computer guru here at the BDN. He and I are offering four beginner-level fly-tying classes to the top bidder.

A quick disclaimer: Don is the expert and will do the teaching. I’ve been told I’m essentially the comic relief. I’ll juggle, or eat feathers, or tie really ugly flies to make the winner feel good about his or her work … whatever it takes to make the lessons enjoyable (though, since I’ve tied with Don before, I know none of those tactics will be necessary).

Among the other outdoor-related items up for bids are a “Membership in a bottle” from the Appalachian Mountain Club, a weekend of camping at Parks Pond Campground, a framed fly-fishing print by artist Jean McLean, and a weekend kayak rental from the Ski Rack.

But (as they also say on TV) that’s not all!

If your interests run more toward sports memorabilia, we’ve also got an autographed Tom Brady football, an autographed Curt Schilling baseball, and plenty of autographed UMaine sports collectibles.

The BDN will be well-represented in our items, as in-house cartoonists George Danby and Josh Alves have donated prizes, and ShopGirl Kristen Andreson’s signature line of accessories will be up for bids.

Then there’s the trip to Florida. Did I mention that yet? That whopper of a prize is a six-day, five-night stay for two, and airline tickets are included.

And even if that item is a bit out of your price range, you can still tell people you went south: a one-month unlimited tanning package is also among the prizes.

Enough of the sales pitch. Here’s how to participate: Go to our Web site at www.bangordailynews.com and click on the NIE auction link at the top of the page.

The auction will run from Monday through March 23. Happy shopping … and I hope you pay particular attention to our fly-tying package.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.