And the summer begins! Today we finished our 7-day Instructor Orientation in Washington State. We feel that it was a huge success. Since so many of our parents never get to meet us, Mike P. thought he’d make this video to share a glimpse of A.T. Orientation with you and to introduce you to some of our wonderful instructors. We want our parents to understand how professionally we take our summer responsibilities. As a group exercise during training, we came up with our 2012 definition of outdoor professionalism:
“The essence of professionalism at Adventure Treks is striving to be ones best self through preparation, authenticity, and honesty in all of our interactions and responsibilities. We use mindful intentionality and a desire for continuous improvement of our selves and our community while making every effort to exceed industry standards. We hold the philosophy and mission of Adventure Treks at the forefront of our actions.”
Today, 12 of our 14 instructor teams began the journey to their summer trip locations (2 trips will attend a separate orientation in Washington two weeks). They traveled by plane to New England and the Blue Ridge and via long road trips by van to Colorado, Utah and Alaska. Folks in BC, the Northwest or California have relatively simple travels. For the next 6-9 days, our instructors will scout their trip itineraries, shop for food, and refresh and improve their outdoor skills. For example, our Pacific Northwest instructors will climb Mt. Adams, our California Adventure instructors will sail on Klamath Lake and rock climb, and our British Columbia staff team will backpack in Manning Park. We are learning about our students and again this year we know we have an exceptional group of kids! Instructors are always working on their soft skills. When we model a culture of kindness, creativity, collaboration and open communication, these traits “trickle down” to our students. We have lots to do to plan the many small nuances that can take a trip from good to great!
We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our students and excited to be back in “summer mode.” We are proud of our instructor team and the wonderful interactions these great role models will have with our students. We will continue with the finishing touches of training this week and we can’t wait for our first opening day on June 24th. See you soon! Thanks for choosing Adventure Treks.
Best, Dock