BEC: Alevin Explorers Rediscovering Arroyo Park

The Alevin Explorers gathered for their last outing of the season this weekend, and were again graced with wonderful weather.  Arroyo Park can be a refrigerator, as many of us know firsthand, but it proved pleasant on this mid-November day.  After our last exploration at the Eagle Park, the Alevin were ready for a little more challenge and a preview of what’s to come in Explorers Club.  These boys are getting older, and it is time for them to start rising into the challenges, privileges, skills, and adventures that we reserve for older Explorers.  It’s exciting to be alongside this growth, and it is very apparent that the timing is right.  These Explorers can travel further, work better as a team, think more deeply, engage their subtler senses, and accumulate the skills it takes to explore the deep wilderness of our landscape… even the deep wilderness of our own backyards.  One of the secrets that they will be learning in these coming years is that Wilderness is everywhere… it’s in the moss that is clinging to the side of your house, the spider under your desk, and in the lift in your breastbone as you take a deep breath and smell the changing of the seasons.  Once an Explorer (of any age) deeply realizes this, the world becomes a much more exciting home.

We began our outing with some general curiosity.  Dave and Matt expended no effort in exciting curiosity as they watched the boys begin tromping down the slope to check out the nearby creek.  Plenty of plants, fossils, bugs, and general curiosities immediately revealed themselves.  And all of this before the opening meeting.  We had a small incident with swinging stick and the need for recognizing theblood circle and that EC Motto that a tool is an extension of the body.  Thankfully, there were no persisting injuries, and we could have our opening meeting.

But, as we said, the Alevin are ready for a different way.  We began our meeting with a challenge.  All Explorers stood on a tarp.  The rules were simple.  Flip the tarp so that everyone is standing on the other side.  No one can step off the tarp.  The Alevin got to work, and a flurry of different problem solving and leadership styles, conflicts, and conflict resolutions were displayed.  Dave and Matt said very little and let them figure it out.  After a good amount of time, they finally came to a technique that worked, but not everyone would participate.  This lead to more social problem solving, and to questions: what do you do when you don’t accomplish a task?  How do you manage it?  How do work through it as a group?  Greatdiscussions were had, and the whole group got some real insight on how to work together.  See the below video for a quick peak…

After that, we needed to get started.  But, again, it was up to the Alevin to make this happen.  Dave and Matt handed off the jobs list to the boys and let them run the opening meeting.  Of course, they have much to learn here, but they are learning it, and that is the key.  The jobs did get handed out, we prepared thoroughly, and then we were off for exploration.

A few games of Hide! were essential.  We also had a few rounds of Talbott’s Game.  Then some navigation challenge made the group figure out a little more about path finding and decision making.  A little further down the trail, and then we found the magic spot.  This spot is not for younger Explorers, and it takes a light step and care for the land in order to enter.  The Alevin agreed to observe this, so we headed in and discovered a great landscape.  You would never know it existed from the trail, but that is part of its magic.  Giant old cedars and a pair of guardian winter wrens greeted us.  We explored a bit, then set up for a truly challenging round of Spider’s Web.  This was no easy task, and the spiders were vicious.  The group did a great job of working together and learning individually.  In the end, we shared insights and recognized how much learning can occur in one simple game.

We had a good sit spot afterward to appreciate the area and our personal connections to it.  Then finished off with a strong closing meeting.  Each shared something he was thankful for and a vision for the next season.  Explorers, this is your group.  Your mentors are guides, not directors, so you have the power to choose where we go.  Keep visioning and we’ll all do the work to make it happen.

Thanks everyone for a great outing!  Thank you Alevin for your growth and sense of exploration.  This Explorer has a hunch that next season will be the time when you earn your new name as a group.  Thanks so much to all the parents for your enduring support.

Don’t forget to check out pics from the outing in our photo gallery.