AWE Team Offers Range of Expertise, Perspectives
The Athenian Wilderness Experience, known colloquially as AWE or A-Dub, has been a core component of the Athenian experience for many years. Yet even as basically every Athenian has and will undertake this journey, the people at the heart of A-Dub—the instructors—are rarely considered by the Athenian community.
There are a couple of ways prospective instructors find out about AWE, but the biggest one is from the program’s positive reputation spreading from word of mouth in the outdoor education community.
“Because it's only a temporary contract, they most of the time they’re are piecing together work with other places that do similar things,” said Phoebe Dameron, Director of AWE. “They interact with other people who also do this kind of work, and then they're like, ‘I just worked this program and here's what it was like,’ and hopefully they say, ‘I really like working there, and the students are amazing, and we go to cool places,’ and then, ‘let me find out more,’ and then they reach out to us, which is amazing.”
However, due to the tight-knit and communal nature of the AWE program, a majority of newcomers are rarely hired for a course. Instead, the program runs mostly off a community of returning staff who come in and out of instructing AWE based on availability.
“We're a small program, so you know we're only hiring max 10 instructors and maybe three logistical support adults to work. So that's 13 people at a time, at most,” said Phoebe. “So, depending on how many returning staff we get, that means there might not be very many openings, like, for this upcoming course, there was only one opening for anyone new because we had so many people returning.”
As mentioned above, the most important goal in the AWE program is to build a positive community within the courses, whereas between the instructors or with students on the actual trip. Therefore, instructors are expected to not only teach wilderness survival skills, but also to help facilitate community building, introspection, and self-growth in student groups.
“More important than that is the fact that they're people people. It's like our instructors are people who know how to be compassionate, know how to coach someone, and know how to have fun with other people,” said Geoffrey Journeay-Kaler, AWE Course Director. “If someone's having a really hard time, we want someone who can help them get through that situation and learn and grow because the point of A-Dub is, of course: you're on this backpacking trip for a month, but you're really learning about how you live in a community and how you learn about yourself, in a community and in a new environment.”
Surprisingly, AWE instructors come from a wide range of backgrounds beyond just outdoor education, and are a varied group of people, matching the diversity of students they teach on the course.
“We all have some similarities, we love teaching outside, and have a lot of experience in wilderness settings. That's probably where it ends. All the instructors I've ever met at AWE were from all different walks of life, came from different backgrounds, from Wall Street to classical ballet to river guiding,” said Summer Eatmon, longtime AWE instructor and logistical support crew member. “They are from all over the country and have experience living abroad as well. There is no ideal, cookie-cutter instructor. Every one of them connects to their students in a unique way. So if you are apprehensive that you won't get along, within a few conversation,s you will probably find something in common.”
This diversity in interests and backgrounds between the instructors allows them to connect with students through their mutual passions, as well as facilitating a sense of community within a group.
“One thing that's fun about being an instructor is you get to share some of the things that maybe aren't the traditional things that you would think of as AWE. So I studied music in college, and I always loved getting to share, like, maybe in the evening, singing a song to the students. I used to do this goofy thing a lot where I'd have them give me three words, and I would do a freestyle rap based off the three words, which was always entertaining for them,” said Geoffrey. “That, of course, fostered this environment where they felt comfortable sharing their gifts and what they thought was fun. And so, some of my favorite moments were when students were like, I want to share this thing that's really special that I can do. And maybe it was a song, maybe it was a recipe, but those are special moments in my mind where someone was like, I'm going to be vulnerable and give the group something special.”
Out of all the incredible experiences and opportunities on AWE, the community building between groups is always the biggest highlight of the course. Through all the hectic, stressful nature of the normal high school life, it’s an incredible opportunity to be able break away and form a little community in the wilderness.
“It's hard to pinpoint a favorite, but some highlights have been windstorms in Death Valley, hummingbirds landing on our shoulders, beautiful alpine lakes, rap battles while hiking, and seeing every group form into a really cool little community. I am always sad groups have to dissolve at the end as we reenter our daily lives,” said Summer.
Ultimately, the role of AWE instructors are not only relegated being guides or teachers on a twenty-six day long backpacking trip. They are conduits to try and foster a unique, familial connection in every group and end the course with the memories of a lifetime.
“The most important qualities of an instructor on top of “they need to be able to keep you safe.” They need to be able to make good judgments. They need to be creative, said Geoffrey. “They really need to be fun. Because, like, if the trip isn't fun, what's the point? So they really need to be fun, and there's a cool lineup of people who want to do this work who are generally fun people, luckily.”
