Survivor Adventure Camp Held at George Williams College Campus

Williams Bay, Wis., August 23, 2007 — A program for cancer survivors was held August 10-12, 2007 at George Williams College of Aurora University, Williams Bay, Wis. The Survivor Adventure Camp designed for women was organized through the Outdoor Wisconsin Leadership Synergies (OWLS) program in the School of Experiential Leadership.

Ten women who have had cancer and their close supporters stayed on campus to participate in the weekend’s activities, which included personal challenge activities, reflection time and a high ropes course experience.

“Sometimes treatment can leave you so depleted that you doubt that you can do much for anyone, especially yourself. This was a chance for women to see themselves differently,” said Kirsten Norslien, the lead facilitator for the weekend. Norslien was a full-time intern with the OWLS program in 1991 and has been a part-time staff member with OWLS since 1996. Current OWLS staff members, who are graduate students involved in a year-long assistantship at George Williams College, assisted her.

Norslien is a life coach who founded her own business, Roots & Wings Coaching (RAWC, Inc.) about four years ago in Madison, Wis., and recently completed her master’s degree in counseling from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She completed the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s Survivor Summit in Austin, Texas in October 2006. The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) inspires and empowers people affected by cancer. The LAF serves its mission through advocacy, public health and research. Founded in 1997 by cancer survivor and champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, the LAF is located in Austin. “I left the Survivor Summit with a commitment to helping survivors see the resources that they had within themselves,” Norslien said. “We each developed a plan to assist survivors live fuller lives. This weekend was my project.”

OWLS custom designs programs to fit client goals and this program took those efforts one step further. “Through the use of adventure education activities, OWLS is able to create a shared experience to think about and act upon the strengths we each inherently possess that are all too often overshadowed by everyday life or as in the case of these women, by the experience of fighting cancer,” said Eric Howden, Director of OWLS. “This is the first in what we hope will be an ongoing effort within the OWLS program aimed at combining adventure education and therapeutic experiences."

Beth Luckhardt, a resident of Pleasant Prairie, Wis. and a special education teacher for the Kenosha unified school district, participated in support of her adoptive sister, Sandra Smith of Crystal Lake, a special education teacher in the Huntley, Ill., schools. Luckhardt agrees with Norslien. “It’s so incredibly busy that there’s no time to sit and focus on everything that’s surrounding the cancer. The weekend will renew hope and keep hope alive,” Luckhardt said.

Funding from The Jadel Foundation, a private foundation based in Wisconsin, supported this program.

OWLS is one of the leading providers of adventure education in the Midwest. The OWLS program custom designs team-building, professional development, personal growth and leadership programs for adolescents, college students, and adult groups on the campus’ more than 200 acres of forested hillsides and lake shoreline.

Thousands of participants have experienced a program through OWLS as a means of achieving personal and team growth in areas such as leadership, communication, conflict resolution, creativity, trust building, and problem solving. One-day and multiple-day programs are available on the George Williams College campus. The curriculum includes trust building and group initiatives, high and low ropes courses, team and individual climbing elements. For more information about the OWLS program, call 262-245-8535 or e-mail owls@aurora.edu or visit the Web site at www.aurora.edu/gwc.

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