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There I was at the top of the world, strapped in only by brightly colored and uncomfortably tight bungee ropes, with a crowd of people yelling "Jump! Jump! JUUUMP!" So I jumped off a 60-foot telephone pole, and instead of crashing to my death, I caught on to the trapeze and swung in the cool autumn breeze. I was slowly lowered to the safety of solid ground seconds later.
Wondering what in the world I'm talking about? This is the Ropes Course at Bishop-Gravatt Center near Aiken, South Carolina. Wondering how you can jump off telephone poles, climb ladders with rungs 6 feet apart, and get hurled over a 10 foot wall? Well, wonder no longer! This is Columbia County Youth Leadership.
Every month, selected students from across Columbia County meet together to explore a different facet of leadership and the community. You fill out an application and interview at the Chamber of Commerce, and hopefully, you get in. Then you're on your way to the Ropes Course, the first leadership challenge. At first it's very intimidating. After all, you're surrounded by 20 something students from other schools, and they all seem to know each other already. But by the end of a day filled with activities out of everyone's comfort zones and challenges that force everyone to work together, you grow not only as an individual but also as part of a team. After a long day outside, everyone circles up for one last meeting where you share a personal item that means something special to you. All of a sudden you're not from different schools any more. Everyone is transparent and vulnerable and you really bond. I know we often laugh at "bonding," but when it's real, it's something really cool. You just have to go into leadership and the Ropes Course with an open mind.
Our next and first official venture into the community is Medical Day. We spend the day at Doctors Hospital touring the Burn Center, Sports Medicine facility, and Health Fair, and at MCG touring their Sports Medicine facility, Emergency Room, and Children's Hospital. You see a lot of graphic stuff, especially at the Burn Center, but it really opens your eyes to the needs in healthcare right now.
Our next meeting is Business and Industry Day out at Georgia Power. You explore the world of finances and money, and most of all, networking. Now is the time to start making connections that will help you later in life. Our class had the privilege of eating lunch with Mayor Bob Young and several other community leaders. We were acquainted with different career paths and also enjoyed a tour of Quebecor World, a magazine factory.
Our latest outing takes us out of Columbia County and all the way to Atlanta to experience Government Day. We combine with the adult Leadership Augusta, and everyone is assigned to be a Senator for the day. Once in Atlanta, we participate in a special mock session of the Senate. It is quite interesting to participate in debating and passing a bill, especially when some of us get a little riled up. Overall though, going through the process ourselves is a great way to understand the way our government works. For fun, we tour the World of Coca-Cola, and for dinner, we attend the private annual Augusta Legislators Barbecue, catered by Sconyers. There are 1,000 people there and, of course, delicious food. We also meet some locals, like Senator Joey Brush and Representative Ben Harbin.
Next month, we take a trip down the Augusta Canal in canoes for History/Community Service Day. Sounds like more fun to me! From my experiences in the program, I've learned that leadership is fun and I've enjoyed becoming more involved in our community. So come on and get out of your regular ACS schedule, miss a day of school every month, and learn an incredible amount about yourself and the people in this community. Get involved-jump off 60-foot poles!