Hanging Together : Ropes Course Aims to Teach Trust, Build Character

If life is an obstacle course and the trick to navigating it is learning the proverbial ropes, students at the Ojai Valley School should have an advantage.

The private, nonprofit boarding school has installed a $40,000 state-of-the-art “ropes course” on its upper campus on Reeves Road that includes about 20 complex and daunting obstacles.

The course is designed to foster the skills needed to tackle life.

“This is not about success or failure,” course instructor Mark Aimone said. “It’s about kids working together, cooperating with each other. It’s about teamwork and communication.”

There’s the Spider’s Web, where students work together to pass a person through an intricate set of ropes without touching the cords.

There’s the Multi-Vine, a set of four ropes hanging from a cable 30 feet in the air, each just out of reach and progressively farther apart. It is designed to test one’s trust in oneself and in two coaches on the ground.

The finale is the Pamper Pole--named after the diapers--which involves throwing oneself off a 30-foot pole to a dangling trapeze far out of reach. Even if one is secured by a safety rope, it is the ultimate leap of faith.

There is not much chance of catching the trapeze, said 18-year-old Stephen Quick, a senior from Las Vegas. “The odds are all on the house.”

The ropes course will be offered as a regular part of the curriculum to the school’s fifth-, seventh-, ninth- and 11th-graders. The 315-student school, which offers classes from kindergarten through 12th grade, has long emphasized character building as well as academics, teachers said.

For the last two weeks, seniors have had the opportunity to break the ropes course in.

Activities are divided into two days. On the first, groups face the “low” portion of the course, 10 separate elements that require problem-solving skills and mutual trust.

“This is where the group comes together to support each other and learn their strengths and weaknesses,” Aimone said.

The second day is devoted to the intimidating, “high” course, most of which takes place 30 feet in the air, although safety ropes blunt the danger. A subsequent debriefing relates the lessons to the real world.

Seniors enthusiastically endorsed the course Friday. The Multi-Vine helped 17-year-old David Kim confront his fear of heights.

“I thought there was no way I’d be able to reach [the next rope] if I let go [of the previous one],” the San Diego youth said, in a state of near-euphoria after completing the course. “Then I just closed my eyes and trusted what [the on-ground coaches] were telling me--and let go.”

David’s reaction to meeting and beating his fears is a typical response, Aimone said.

Formerly part of the Connecticut company that designs and builds the ropes courses, Aimone once took a group of minority students from New York City through a similar course.

“It was magical,” Aimone said. “People left there changed. They learned a lot about themselves and other people.”

Indeed, corporations such as IBM have used ropes courses to encourage individuals to meld into a team.

Ojai Valley School intends to open its ropes course to the community and rent it to businesses.

“From my standpoint, it’s the best classroom on campus,” said Upper School Headmaster Carl Cooper.

Tokyo native Sayuri Dejima, 19, learned much from the experience.

“At first, I thought it was impossible for me,” she said after completing the course. “From now on, I try hard at everything, because if I try hard, I can make it.”