What signals the start of summer here at ARCC Programs?
Our annual Staff Training of course!
Every year we kick off our Staff Training with a Return Leader Fun Day hosted by our office in Bend, Oregon. This year’s activity did not disappoint—spending the day floating the Deschutes River! This is just one of the many ways we thank our leaders for coming back year after year.
First time ARCC Leaders started to roll into Bend early June, where they were greeted by our full-time office staff and their fellow co-leaders—some of whom are in their 6th and 7th years leading for ARCC!
Every leader hired to work for us is Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certified, has previous experience working with students or teens, and has a background in outdoor education or adventure activities. But most importantly, they’re super passionate about what they do!
So what does ARCC’s Staff Training entail? Our office staff spends a week teaching ARCC traditions, new games leaders can play with their students, how to handle different types of situations that may arise, and overall how to run a successful program for all our students!
This week-long training is a time for leaders to come together, meet one another on a more personal level, and start to form a lasting connection with the ARCC office staff.
In honor of the 2024 Paris Olympics, we asked our leaders to form 4 different countries that would compete for the GOLD. We had 4 teams: the Red Team, Blue Team, Yellow Team, and Green Team. Each team had to create a fictional country complete with a flag, traditions, a national anthem, a mascot, and a slogan. And it was a HUGE hit all week!
All our leaders and office staff got super into the morning prompts and had a blast—every roll call was filled with giggles and smiles (even some singing)! We learned about one another through hot seats—a speed round of get-to-know-you questions—and spent quality time with each other over dinner and evening circles every night.
We concluded our training with an all staff BBQ and a friendly competition of 8 Olympic Games! Shoutout to the Green Team for taking home the Gold this year!
