Blog

Covenant Harbor’s Snake Road Adventure Center is a part of Covenant Harbor that creates holistic experiences for participants of all ages to grow through adventures and challenges. 

Our goal is to provide purposeful experiences that empower guests to accomplish their individual goals. We partner with people through creating learning opportunities, meaningful reflections and fun. Guests get to try new things, be challenged and grow through their time at camp. 

Multiple times a year, the Snake Road team creates specific challenging, team bonding experiences for a competitive volleyball team. Their coach describes their time as, “It’s team bonding! Faced some fears, set some sacrifices and goals and more importantly we are now ready to take on the season together!” 

Meaningful experiences like that are accomplished through the skillful attention from our expert facilitators.

The Snake Road Adventure team facilitators provide individual attention and accompany each group through the entire experience. Our facilitators are uniquely positioned to provide a different perspective as they start the day with no preconceived notions as to the personalities of the individuals as well as the group they will spend time getting to know. This supportive role lets the facilitators observe groups, make decisions on how to structure activities to accomplish their goals and work on particular situations that arise in real time. Snake Road facilitators are also trained to be aware of seemingly small things like learning the student’s names, speaking at their level and letting them know that everyone in the group matters. These details promote a positive learning environment as well as foster individual developmental outcomes (Owens et al., 2021). 

Covenant Harbor values the relationships that Snake Road facilitators are able to grow with a particular group of students for the day (or multiple if they stay overnight!). 

By providing individual facilitators for each group:

• Students are being challenged by someone who knows them. Growth often happens because a challenge arises. When facilitators have gotten to know students, they can provide the right fit challenges that allow for growth to happen in a safe and encouraging environment.
• Students feel known and seen. A person is more than their abilities and perspectives at a single moment in time. By traveling with the group, a facilitator gets to see and encourage the strengths of each individual while acknowledging areas to work on in real time.
• Facilitators become the experts. Learning is not just for the students. Our staff like to learn and try new things and by staying with one group of students for the day, it challenges our staff to learn how to teach something new. This allows them to feel the stretch they are encouraging in the students they work with. 
• Shared experiences build relationships. When students and facilitators experience a full day of activities together, a relationship is built. This might include encouragement, trust, laughter, frustration, success, silliness and so much more. By introducing a new person like the facilitator into a group of students, it also opens up the students minds in how they may view each other since a new environment allows for new experiences and new perspectives.

The Snake Road facilitators along with the rest of the Covenant Harbor staff hope that a day of team building, adventure activities and outdoor education classes is just the start of the experience. Conversations, shared meals and even the travel time here creates new memories and opportunities for everyone. Covenant Harbor wants to come alongside our groups to help everyone fully experience their time here. 

If you would like to join the Snake Road Team by becoming a facilitator, please contact Jamie Leslie.

References

Owens, M. H., & Browne, L. P. (2021). Camp counselor as a role model for social-emotional learning skills in camp. Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership., 13(1), 8-22. https://doi.org/10.18666/JOREL-2021-V13-I1-10543