youth & student programs

Please review our current Covid-19 Protocols for Youth & Student Programs (linked) for your upcoming Youth & Student programs

The Browne Center works with a variety of youth and student populations to promote learning and personal growth in participants.

Our programs consist of a customized sequence of experiential activities that foster individual and team growth. In an environment that is fun, safe, and respectful, our programs also provide opportunities for participants to make positive choices, gain self-confidence, and learn skills that are critical to their development.

Youth and Student Activity

With a long history of working with schools, The Browne Center has developed a year-long in-school Social and Emotional Learning curriculum.

Whether a year-long implementation or a “peak day” at The Browne Center challenge course, our programs enhance skills in:

  • Social & Emotional Learning
  • Empathy and Trust
  • Communication and Leadership
  • Team Development and Community Building
  • Healthy Risk Taking and Resiliency
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Diversity and Inclusion

Youth & Student Programs Overview [PDF]

Common outcomes for our youth participants include:

  • Building skills in collective leadership, teamwork, problem-solving and conflict resolution.
  • Understanding how effective communication and peer support can enhance group decision-making, the development of trust, and positive risk-taking.
  • Creating an atmosphere of acceptance and community.
  • Welcoming and integrating new students.
  • Offering opportunities for students to take positive risks.
  • Strengthening relationships between staff and students.
  • Deepening student’s awareness around accountability and responsibility.
  • Developing skills needed to be able to resolve team conflicts.

Browne Center Youth and Student Facilitator

Our Youth and Student Facilitators

The Browne Center Youth and Student Facilitators are among the best in New England. They have significant and diverse experience with youth and student populations from recreation, education, and therapeutic settings. Each staff member has a minimum of 50 days leading on a challenge course prior to being hired and attends regularly scheduled technical skills refreshers. Additionally, each facilitator holds current certification in First Aid and CPR. In addition to their challenge course credentials, many of our staff have graduate level experience and backgrounds in social work/therapy, classroom teaching, special education or other relevant fields. Most facilitators hold a higher education degree in Outdoor Education or a related field.

The Browne Center Youth & Student Programming Activities

Creating a dynamic program based on your group’s specific goals is the touchstone of our youth programming. Whether coming together as a recently-formed group, integrating new members to a pre-existing group, addressing specific behavioral issues, or striving for performance excellence, we provide an action-packed program to meet your group’s needs.

Our activities include, but are not limited to: challenge/ropes course, orienteering, and portable games and problem solving.

What to Expect – A Typical Day

A typical day begins with a short orientation session, including warm-ups and introductions. This gives us a chance to familiarize you with the area, the time schedule, and our teaching philosophies (Challenge by Choice and Full Value Contract). This is also a time to set group and individual expectations for the day.

After the warm-up, we may continue with goal setting or establishing a more complete full value contract for the group. Groups begin on problem solving and trust building initiatives where members work to solve various challenges and learn about communication, themselves, and the group. Specific Problem Solving Activities & Low Ropes Elements would be chosen depending on your group goals. Using new skills and knowledge gained during the initiatives, the group can now move to challenges posed by the low elements. Time is always provided to discuss the learnings drawn from activities.

The afternoon may be a continuation of the Low Elements, keeping the focus on team-building and group interaction, or, groups may move to the High Elements. The groups is outfitted with helmets and harnesses, and instructed on the proper use of safety equipment and a belay system.

There is usually a culminating experience where the whole group comes together to wrap-up or debrief the day. This is a great time to evaluate the group’s expectations, goals and plan the transfer for the learnings to other settings.

A Typical day including Sample Agenda [PDF]

Social and Emotional Learning in Action Book by Tara Flippo

36 lessons
to build group trust, respect, and efficacy

A Book and Training: Social and Emotional Learning in Action: Experiential Activities to Positively Impact School Climate. Social and Emotional Learning in Action (SELA) provides a developmentally sequenced year-long, modular flow or stand-alone lessons that integrate the benefits of experiential and social emotional learning into the classroom.

LEARN MORE

possibility starts here…

With over 50 available facilitators and trainers, The Browne Center can tailor a unique program specifically for your group at your location or at our 100+ acre campus in Durham, NH. Contact us by email, phone or the form below.