Crash course on teamwork

There’s something in the water at Cherokee Bend Elementary. Or maybe there’s something in the woods.

As 22 Woodlawn teenagers sat at the picnic tables in Cherokee Bend’s courtyard in early June, Rick Hedrick, director of Cherokee Bend’s Fair Oaks Adventure Curriculum (FOAC), explained what they could expect.

“Some of the exercises I’m going to ask you to do are going to frustrate you,” he said. “You’re going to get really mad, and that’s OK because we all need to know how to handle those things.”

Minutes later, the teenagers were balancing on wooden platforms, trying to use two short planks to travel from platform to platform without touching the ground in an activity called “islands.” Frustration grew as the group had to start over whenever a person or a board touched the ground. 

“Generally, a lot of starting over causes, at some point, a conflict,” said Hedrick. 

But Hedrick is not trying to avoid conflict. Rather, by putting students in difficult situations, Hedrick exposes group dynamics and allows students to see how their strengths and weaknesses are helping or harming the team. 

Since 1996, the Fair Oaks Adventure Curriculum (FOAC) has given Cherokee Bend students the chance to learn about teamwork in a challenging yet supportive setting. 

Three rules make up the foundation of FOAC: do your best, be safe, and value yourself and others.

Cherokee Bend Principal Betsy Bell sees the effects of the program in her students’ everyday interactions. 

“I definitely see a spirit of cooperation,” she said. “I also see kids that want to lend a helping hand to a fellow student or kick into gear to solve a problem if one is presented.”

Most FOAC activities include physical and mental challenges that can only be overcome if the group works together. Hedrick calls for “circle ups” for the students to reflect on how they are doing as a group when conflicts arise.

“When I’ve had outside groups come in and observe the students working, they are absolutely wowed by the students’ abilities to stand in a circle and communicate,” said Hedrick.

This summer, the curriculum reached far beyond Cherokee Bend as students from the YWCA CREW (Creating Responsible Educating Working) teens program participated in a two-day FOAC course. The team-building and problem-solving activities at Cherokee Bend Elementary’s ropes course with Hedrick made up the core of CREW orientation before seven weeks of work and activities.

The CREW program was created in 2011 to provide meaningful summer experiences for teenagers in the Woodlawn area who otherwise would have little to do. 

“We wanted to create something that would give these kids an opportunity to see outside of Woodlawn,” said Angie Eddings, program director of CREW.

After orientation, CREW members’ teamwork skills were put to the test when they were split into four teams at different worksites at the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) Summer Camp in Bluff Park and Woodlawn. 

Selected from over 70 applicants, the 22 high school students receive job training and work experience on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Thursdays are enrichment activity days with trips planned to local businesses and attractions such as Yellowhammer Creative and UAB. 

Each student receives a cash stipend on Thursday afternoons for hours worked on Monday through Wednesday. In order to teach personal finance, UCP CREW members must pay a small fee for transportation and Woodlawn CREW members must pay a small fee for lunch on Mondays through Wednesdays. 

“This isn’t a summer school program, it’s really a soft job skills program,” said YWCA Chief Housing Officer Jennifer Clarke.

Throughout the program, CREW members will work on “soft skills,” such as interviewing and communicating. They will also learn marketable skills such as CPR and first aid training through the American Red Cross. 

Not only does Hedrick believe that the lessons learned in FOAC are valuable to elementary school students and even teenagers, but he also claims that those same lessons are important for people of all ages and backgrounds. 

“Those are the issues that we work on, just basic people-to-people skills that help us in our everyday lives to get along with each other,” said Hedrick. 

For more information on CREW, please contact the Birmingham YWCA at 322-9922.