Spots of sunshine shed some light on the group that recently attended “Communication Through Canoeing,” the first part of this year’s Leadership Adventure Series put on by Student Life.

It started out rainy and cold – definitely not the ideal conditions for a day out on the lake. However, by 11 a.m. the day began to turn around. The clouds broke, the sun came out and the participants in the Leadership Adventure Series’ first program, Communication Through Canoeing, cast off from the shore onto Upper Mud Lake, just south of Lake Monona.

This trip was the first of six leadership trips this year. Each trip in the series emphasizes a different leadership skill. This particular trip focused on communication. Canoeing was chosen as the medium to teach these skills because in order for it to work smoothly, both paddlers need to clearly communicate with each other.

The day began with exercises to work on communication within the group. The participants started off learning a little about each other then broke up into two groups of three for slightly more in depth getting to know each other activities. These exercises consisted of asking questions and then paraphrasing the person’s answer. After paraphrasing, the last person would ask an open-ended question to get more information about the first person. That continued until every person in the group had done each part twice.

After participating in the communication exercises, they headed to the water to learn strokes and actually begin canoeing. Each canoe held two people where the person in the back steers, and the person in the front paddles. Amy Climer, the facilitator of the group, observed everyone from a single canoe to make sure no one had any problems. Climer designed the curriculum for the entire series of leadership outings.

“I have a masters in Outdoor Education, so I really enjoy what I do,” Climer said. “These activities really help people to open up and be more confident in what they are doing.”

On the water the six leadership participants started out practicing strokes and controlling the canoe. Once they got the hang of things they went off to the larger lake. In order to further work on communication skills, each canoe took turns leading the group in whichever way they chose. Some lead from the front of the group, while others stayed in the back of the group to keep an eye on things.

At the end of the day everyone had the chance to be rescued. In order to be rescued the people had to flip out of their canoe and then learn how to get back in. Only one brave soul decided to try it on this cold day.

“At the beginning of the day I thought everyone had to, but then I found out that was not the case and I was disappointed,” said Jason Van Pelt, student that participated in the activity. “Then I found out it was actually an option, and I just could not refuse.”

Most of the people who attended the canoe trip plan to also attend the caving trip on Oct. 1, and most of the other trips as well. In order to go on any of these trips people just have to go to the Student Life office located at the Truax campus and sign up. People can also get on the email list to be informed ahead of time when the activities are coming up and what activity it is.