Last week marked the 4th year of an amazingly rewarding partnership we have with Albert Park College in Melbourne’s Eastern Suburb of Albert Park. Each year their year 11’s come together to compete in a uniquely designed Amazing Race specifically designed to force the students to work together as a team, plan, strategise and ultimately ‘get on’ to complete the game and hopefully take out the victory.
To the college’s credit we really do get a sense of the culture that is already clearly bred throughout a student’s time at the school purely through our interactions with each new year as they participate. Each cohort proves to be polite, confident and intellectually and emotionally well equipped in preparation for life in the real world.
Our annual event with the school is part of a larger program however our small, fun school excursion within this program has given us pause for reflection to where and how we fit in to these students personal/professional development. Our events are first and foremost designed for fun – we’re not ashamed to admit it! In fact, it is a badge we wear with pride (literally it’s on our shirts). BUT there is a theoretical side behind our fun events that is the real reason a lasting relationship has been forged with APC.
We take school kids out on a different kind of excursion, to work on a very adult lesson.
OK, book smart is essential, we’re tested on it from day dot and study/knowledge is penultimate, but it’s not the only smarts that get you by. Social interaction, working in a team, subtlety and finesse when approaching opposing opinions, attitude, confidence and collaboration are all fundamental learning outcomes essential to adult working life. It all sounds pretty serious but we seriously test this as part of our games!
What are the results? A lot fail. In moments most fail but this is absolutely not exclusive to APC – adults fail too more often than you would think! ***Try not give the word ‘failure’ as much power as you usually would though! Failure here can be as simple as railroading your team to your way of thinking which may not have been the best choice or getting frustrated at someone else’s performance when you decided to take a back seat. There’s no judgement, just something to reflect on. It’s the primary reason we run so many events for corporate groups – seeing how your team reacts in high-pressure, unfamiliar situations.
We’re asked frequently, and yes we do see the best and worst come out in people on our events – competition gets the better of you. From students right through to the Head of HR for one of Australia’s largest conglomerates – competition makes you do things you wouldn’t normally do – that’s why you this works.
To wrap all this up we truly admire Albert Park College for their foresight, the credence and the commitment they ascribe to their students personal development. We acknowledge that as a business we are slightly over-emotive in general but we do really love getting these young, soon-to-be adults out and seeing a small snapshot of their personal development.
People are what we are about…
Want the same thing for your students? We currently run school group Amazing Races for all ages in Melbourne and Sydney. Check it out here!
