On the weekend of May 17th, 12 Sierra Club Outdoors volunteers and partners met in Hampton, GA for our inaugural Outing Leadership Training-For-Trainers. This T4T was our first step towards reaching a new Sierra Club Outdoors goal of training 600 new volunteer trip leaders who will connect 3000 participants to the outdoors by the end of 2015.
Volunteer representing local Sierra Club Chapters, Inner City Outings, Military Outdoors program and partners from GirlTrek (a national organization that inspires and supports African American women and girls to live their healthiest, most fulfilled lives - simply by walking) came together to practice teaching core Outing Leadership Training 201 training sessions to their peers. Each trainer commited to facilitating two workshops this year: one for their own group and one for another group. Not only will more people get the training they want, but a larger community of leaders will grow.
The trainers in training hailed from Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, North and South Carolina, Maryland and Washington, DC. Each brought their breadth and depth of personal trip leadership and group facilitation experience to create a powerful weekend of learning for all!
- “I really enjoyed learning about how to tell my own personal story in order to help inspire trip participants to enjoy the outdoors.”
- “Getting feedback from our peers - especially the areas needing improvement – was most important and valuable to me.”
- “I enjoyed building relationships with folks I hope to teach with in the next year.”
-- Sascha Paris, Sierra Club Outdoors