What's happening in Experiential Education this year

With new staff in the Experiential Education department, the team is excited to share what they have been working on and things they have coming up this summer. 

This year the team welcomed two new coordinators for the department, familiar face, Zeya Kyaw and alum Chap Grubb (’10) to round out the team under leadership of Director José González, who joined Overlake last year.

As an alum, Grubb credits his time at Overlake particularly his time with the Experiential Education department in shaping the direction of his life. In 8th grade, he remembers trying out the climbing wall for the first time and eventually backpacking through the Canyonlands with Overlake. 

“The most memorable moments from my Upper School experience were always involved and engaged in this kind of programming with my friends and teachers. It’s such an honor to be delivering that to these students now,” Grubb shares. “This (job) is everything I ever wanted. My dream and vision, is to send out the next group of kids to go into the world with the skills, expertise, and experience to continue to coach and educate their friends on these skills they learn here.”

Grubb and Kyaw are quick to point out that the Experiential Education department encompasses more than just outdoor experiences, it also encompasses what happens during clubs, Senior Projects, service days, and Project Weeks. Students may pursue anything from cooking to community service to sewing to climbing through the coordinated efforts of the department. The department offerings stem not only from the passions of the team members but also from suggestions of adults and students. The team would love to receive student ideas of clubs to run or trips to take, they are always open to new ideas for experiences especially those outside their own expertise. “I can jump in and know what I’m doing on the climbing wall because I’ve worked at climbing gyms, but Susan Essex (Director of Student Support) and Janet Jones (Science Department Chair) have spent years sewing and can share their experience with students,” Grubb shares. “There’s lots of things we can make happen and we would love their requests.”

The team is leaning into cross departmental collaboration this year as well. For Project Week placements, they teamed up with David Basham from the ILT department to create a digital sorting tool to place students in Project Week groups based on their preferences. Utilizing this new tool, 89% of students were placed in their number one choice of project, 6% got their second choice and 3% got their third choice meaning that the vast majority of students we placed in a project in their top three choices. 

For the first time, the team is also running summer camps through our Summer Program. González will be leading a paddleboarding camp where campers will have the opportunity to earn their Certification of Level 1 Stand Up Paddleboard skills by the end of the week. Grubb will also be leading several camp sessions focusing on rock climbing. He plans to utilize Overlake’s newly updated climbing wall to introduce students to the sport and increase their comfort to participate in outdoor climbs they hope to offer over time. 

The goal of utilizing the summer with camps and additional outdoor education trips is to meet students where they are. “We want to support student learning year-round,” says Kyaw. Since students tend to not be as busy during summer, it’s the perfect time for students to engage in experiential learning. Kyaw notes, “I can’t think of any better preparation for a student entering high school than to sign up for these programs. They develop lots of soft skills, communication, leadership, team building, all these things are so important to a student’s development but they are skills that they need to succeed not only in high school, but in life.”

To see what trips are offered this spring and into the summer, check out the offerings here.