Each year, we feel that the benefits of the Adventure Treks experience become more important. The reason is simple: technology. (It’s more heartbreakingly true this year, when students have been glued to their screens for online hangouts and schooling.) This might not make sense initially. How does attending a camp devoid of technology help a child succeed in a world defined by it?

Technology is changing our economy, our social norms, our relationships, and everything it touches. Without judging these changes, we simply note that as the world changes, people need (or soon will need) a different set of skills in order to thrive than they did previously. About 10–15 years ago, many of the best companies in the United States (like Apple, Google, Dell, Cisco, Microsoft, Ford, and Marriott) concluded that recent college graduates were coming to them without the skills necessary for success in their workforce. As a result, they created the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (p21.org).

After conducting three studies of more than 2,000 organizations of different sizes, the Partnership created a list of skills critical for success in the 21st century. Technological skills were on the list, but never made the top 10, because they found new employees were typically sufficient in this area. Nor did they focus on things such as reading, writing, and math. Instead, the list focused on the “4 C’s”: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking.

Here are the top 5 from the list:

1. Oral communication
2. Collaboration
3. Work ethic/self-discipline
4. Written communication
5. Critical thinking/problem-solving

We see this list as a love letter to Adventure Treks. Admittedly, we don’t improve written communication skills (they maintain a group journal, but grammar is… not a priority). As far as the other four, every moment at AT is a moment to practice oral communication and collaboration. We develop self-discipline through the daily ritual of living outdoors (and the natural consequences one receives if things are not correctly—i.e., a poorly set up tent in a rainstorm).

Most schools encourage problem-solving, but the “problems” are often narrowly defined and academic, such as math equations. The Partnership is focused on teaching youth to think critically and solve unexpected challenges. In the outdoors, we constantly deal with the unexpected and undefined. We help our students analyze situations in a constantly changing environment as they learn the thinking process behind our instructors’ decisions.

Take another look at the list. Oral communication and collaboration are interpersonal skills. Children develop these skills in the way they develop athletic or academic skills—through practice. And practice comes from face-to-face interaction with others, not on Instagram or SnapChat or via text. AT is a 24/7 immersion in an environment that supercharges the development of these social skills. Because this immersive experience is very different from life at home, the social learning sticks better here than it would in a familiar environment.

As the Partnership convincingly argues, interpersonal skills are the key to success in the modern workplace, so at a time when our children should be strengthening their oral communication, collaboration, and leadership skills they are instead turning to their iPads, iPhones, and social media.

When they return home, our students will return to using technology again, but we see three important differences in our Adventure Treks students compared to other youth. First, they tend to use their phones less. They have experienced life separated from the proverbial electronic umbilical cord, and they like it. Second, they know they can be spectacular without these devices. Finally, they are more effective communicators, better friends, and more skilled leaders than their peers.

The decision to open Adventure Treks this season has been the hardest one we’ve made in our almost 30 years of working in youth development. The decision was made after many sleepless nights trying to figure which option was the best… out of no perfect options. It’s a decision made not from hubris, but with clear eyes and the belief in our mission of Adventure Treks as an important educational institution. We feel a sense of duty to serve our families when kids need community and outdoors the most.

Of course, safety comes first at Adventure Treks, which puts pressure on us as directors to work tirelessly to mitigate the risks to the best of our ability. This summer, Adventure Treks won’t exactly resemble the program we all know and love, but we firmly believe it’ll still be the fun, growth-oriented, and community-minded experience we promise every year. We’ll still have all of our great activities available, and our instructors and directors are more excited than ever to see each of our students. Bonus: By being headquartered in NC, every one of our directors will get to meet every one of our students and their parents!

How can we run Adventure Treks safely?

We’ll be opening in partnership with the Henderson County Health Department, with permission from the state of NC, and with the support of our local government. We have (exhaustively) studied the guidance from the American Camp Association and NC Department of Health and Human Services. We have diligently pursued the best information we could find.

At first, we were slightly daunted; could we simultaneously adhere to the guidelines while keeping Adventure Treks a fun, exciting, and magical place to be with friends?

We meet the CDC requirements to operate based on their decision tree. We’ve had countless discussions and brainstorms with our medical director (Dr. Andrew Morris at Blue Ridge Community Health), other directors in our industry, and members of the health department, and we’ve run through endless “what if” scenarios to leave no stone unturned.

Adventure Treks has always been a small-group program, meaning our students already spend the majority of time in groups of 30 or fewer people. This year, we are reducing group size to 16 students and five instructors, with backcountry groupings of eight students and two instructors. This also means that under the new guidelines, the changes we’ll have to make are far less radical than the changes other, larger organizations would have to implement.  Our trip groups have always essentially been quarantined in the wilderness from the outside world, anyway!

After all this… we realized that we can meet those guidelines, and of any program we can think of , it won’t be that hard to make Adventure Treks still feel like Adventure Treks. Only the scenery (and the humidity) will change, as we will only be operating in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Why not just close for the summer?

We have sheltered in place, continue to wear face coverings in public, and have deep respect for the consequences of COVID-19. We know people who have gotten sick with mild symptoms, and others who fell extremely ill. We have friends whose relatives have died from the virus. We take COVID-19 very seriously.

But we have also seen the mental health effects that this pandemic has brought on kids, and we’ve reviewed disturbing data about double-digit increases in societal anxiety and depression. (See this Wall Street Journal article and these Kaiser Family Foundation stats.) We know how much the Adventure Treks community means to our students, and for this age group (at least, looking at what my family needs), the benefits of Adventure Treks outweigh the risks.

Adventure Treks is a magical place for teens to just be kids, have fun, and disconnect from the pressures they face every day. We feel obligated to use the outdoors for their betterment. We believe we can create a carefully isolated “Adventure Treks bubble” that’s separate from the outside world, where for 10 to 23 days kids don’t have to worry about COVID-19. They can explore the outdoors, learn from caring role models, and greet old friends and make new ones. While no one can guarantee a place free from COVID-19, we think we can create a place that’s safer than most, if not all, typical summer alternatives (like beaches, amusement parks, campgrounds, even sports tryouts).

We know life isn’t returning to normal anytime soon; we don’t even know what’s going to happen with schools this fall. It’s very possible we could be facing this same decision about opening AT in 2021… if we don’t take the initiative now to figure it out.

Taking reasonable risks

The easiest decision, in terms of eliminating all risk, would be to close AT for summer 2020. But we don’t think that’s the best or ultimately the safest decision for our students. Risk is an inevitable and unavoidable part of life. Acceptable and reasonable risk can only be defined in relation to perceived benefits while weighing the alternative risks of different courses of action.

We have been mitigating outdoor risk all our lives. Some activities we do on a regular basis (driving in Washington state, rafting the Middle Klamath River, and mountain biking in Oregon, for example) are statistically more dangerous than the current probability of consequences from COVID-19, if contracted by those in our students’ age group. While we realize there is far greater uncertainty with COVID-19 than, say, influenza, when we compare risks and benefits for kids who love camp, we would always choose letting our kids participate versus stay at home. (Here’s a WSJ article on the evidence of kids and COVID-19 and another on influenza vs. COVID-19.)

We didn’t make this decision rashly. And with the programming modifications we’ve made thus far, including operating later in the summer, significantly reducing overall capacity to 35 percent, and testing and quarantining our instructors and directors for two weeks, we can reduce much of the risk at Adventure Treks.

What’s next?

We are moving ahead carefully. We are well-connected within the camp and outdoor industry. Many traditional summer camps in the South will open an entire month earlier than us, so we’ll watch them carefully to learn from their successes and failures. If at any time we feel that the risks become too great, we will change our decision. We are also continuing to watch the outside world and data from the state of North Carolina. We hope to be in phase three with fewer restrictions when AT opens. Should numbers in NC take a turn for the worse in the month ahead, that may affect how we move forward.

The choice of whether to attend AT this summer (and the reasons behind that choice) will be unique to each family. We respect whatever decision families make, and we know coming to Adventure Treks may not be the right choice this year for some of you. (And if that’s the case, we’ll welcome you with open arms in 2021.) For those of you joining us in 2020, we will rely on an enhanced partnership with parents that begins with the shared belief that life and AT can never be 100 percent certain, and that this year there are more unknowns than ever. In short, we believe that every family has different circumstances and must weigh the benefits and risks to decide if AT is a “reasonable risk.”

We promise to do our very best, but again, even if we could test every student several times, no system will be foolproof. We are counting on parents to do all in their power to bring healthy students to us. The biggest risk may come after AT, and keeping AT students away from vulnerable populations for two weeks once they return home is a critically important responsibility

We will continue to study the science and run the best possible program while mitigating as much risk as we can. We are working incredibly hard and doing all in our power to continue to create a special place for our students. If you missed it, you can view our new 2020 Standards of Care here. We encourage you to read both thoroughly to understand what we’re doing differently this summer. We are here for you; call us anytime at 888-954-5555 with questions.

Being an Adventure Treks instructor for the last seven years has taught me many things. I’ve learned to be more confident, believe in myself, and how to make any situation fun. I’ve also learned that it’s OK to show some vulnerability, that conflict is a healthy thing, and that giving a genuine compliment feels better than receiving one. Adventure Treks has helped me become more of the person I want to be, but there’s one thing I’m really thankful for: how to make friends.

Growing up, “go make friends” was a fairly common phrase I heard at any social gathering where parents and children were present. As a young person, I clung to my parents and did not look forward to mingling. “Go make friends” makes it sound so easy. As if all I had to do was introduce myself to a stranger and we magically became friends. As it turns out, it doesn’t get any easier as an adult. Trying to make friends can be pretty daunting, and it can leave one open to rejection. I am fairly certain that word (rejection) sets off alarm bells for most of us.

So what can we do? How does one make friends, as a child, as a teenager, as an adult? Below are some tips for making friends that I have acquired while working at Adventure Treks.

Introduce yourself

This one is the simplest, yet may be the hardest skill to execute. Adventure Treks instructor orientation is an intimidating social scene at first. You walk into a group of roughly 60 people and often do not know more than one other person there. For years, I had to put myself out there. I introduced myself to everyone. I said “Hi, I’m Joe” too many times to count. Fast forward: I have now introduced myself to literally hundreds of AT instructors. It actually does feel simple now. Like anything else, it takes practice, but you cannot make a friend until you know his or her name. Adventure Treks has helped me build the confidence to introduce myself to anyone, and now I take pride in making the first move.

Find something in common

Most of us are pre-programmed to make small talk once introductions have been made, and it is a good way to avoid the awkward silence. The next step, I believe, is to begin finding things you have in common. We do this at Adventure Treks on our day hikes and first backpack. We have students find three things they have in common. This is a great way to begin to build a connection while also driving conversation. Take those three things and match them up with two other people. Continue this process until the entire group has one thing in common. That small thing does a lot of work in bringing people together, and I have used that strategy to make friends in my personal life. Our commonalities get us speaking, and the awkward factor drops to acceptable levels. Which brings us to our next tip.

Ask questions about your new acquaintance

Someone once said “everyone’s favorite topic of conversation is themselves.” I won’t take credit for it, but it has been an invaluable lesson in building relationships. While working for Adventure Treks, a huge part of the job (and probably the most important next to maintaining safety) is building relationships. So after I introduce myself to students and find a few things we have in common, I try to learn about the new person in my life. I try to cover all the bases, like favorites of all categories: food, movies, books, video games, sports, classes in school, music, and television shows. Then I ask about their families and siblings: what their parents do, if they have pets, how they spend time together, etc. As we build our relationship, I may ask what they want their future to look like, or who are people who have really impacted their lives, or what their greatest fear is. The key to all of this is listen and remember. If you spend all of your time asking questions but cannot recall any of the answers, you have no credibility as a new friend.

Be open and honest

Making friends is a two-way street, and while our tips thus far have us taking charge of the situation, we have to be prepared to answer questions as well. I have always been surprised by the questions that my students ask me throughout the trip. Many are insightful and thoughtful, and are honestly better than questions most of my adult friends have asked while getting to know me (sorry, everyone). Being at AT has taught me that it is acceptable to be myself all the time. That’s been one of the most liberating lessons Adventure Treks has taught me, and it has translated to my new friendships. When folks ask me questions, I am now able to simply tell the truth. Yes, I am a grown man, and yes, I own a gameboy. Yes, I enjoy comic books. You wouldn’t know it from looking, but one of my favorite artists is Lady Gaga. My students have always shown me their true selves, and as a true friend, I reciprocate.

It takes time and effort… do not give up

Friends are not made instantly. What I would give to have the instant friendship of every student and co-instructor! A few years ago, I moved to a new town to work at a ski resort. I didn’t know anyone in town, and the thought of making new friends felt pretty overwhelming. I tried to think about my new job as one of my AT trips. I made sure to introduce myself to everyone I met, and that helped me feel a little more at ease. It’s a bit like ripping off a Band-Aid—if you just get on with it, it feels better. I found my commonalities (we all liked to ski), I did my best to learn about everyone, and then came the scary part: I was myself around everyone. I’ll admit that I may have scared some prospects off with that last part, but it felt right to be myself. Then I moved into step 5: I asked folks to hang out… All the time. I did not let “I can’t that day” or the “I’d love to, but I have plans” slow me down. I went back to that mountain for my fourth winter, and I truly felt like a part of the community. Our communities on our AT trips do not happen overnight, but by the end they are strong, healthy, and meaningful. AT time is kind of like dog years: One AT summer counts for seven years of regular friendship. So if you’re looking to make a new friend, stick with it, and let it play out, and I bet it will all work out in the end.

Making friends can be daunting, but hopefully these tips will help you out anytime you’re in a new social situation, whether it’s joining a new soccer team, moving to a new school, or coming to Adventure Treks for the first time.