STRESS COURSE CHALLENGES STUDENTS IN JOB TRAINING; PROGRAM SERVES AS A `CONFIDENCE BUILDER' FOR TEENS

Daphne Lemons looked at the 12-foot wall and said there was no way she'd ever scale it.

Just a few minutes later, after some lifting and pushing and pulling by her friends, she stood triumphantly atop the wall calling down, "I did it. I did it." Her teammates cheered in response.

Back on the ground, the Advance teenager said, "I didn't think I could do it, but with a little encouragement and a little bit of help I did."

Lemons was among 20 young people completing a summer employment program through the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational School, Job Training Partnership Act and Private Industry Council.

The students this week are learning lifetime leisure skills, said Ed Leoni, chairman of the Department of Health and Leisure.

The stress challenge course was developed by the Department of Health and Leisure and the Department of Recreational Sports at Southeast Missouri State University.

Leoni said the stress challenge course helps develop physical and psychological skills.

"It can be used as a confidence builder," he said. "You take a physical challenge and when you master that, which we help people do, that makes them more confident in their total self."

"It actually can be used to develop physical skills like coordination and balance and also social skills like team-building and trust," Leoni said.

Mike Stone, a graduate student and facilitator, designed and helped build the course.

Stone said he toured several similar facilities around the country in planning this one. "We picked the best of the stations," he said. "We've been working on this for about a year."

The course will be used by Southeast students this fall. It also will be available to other community groups.

"It really could be used by any type of group a sports team, a scout troop or even at the corporate level any group that needs cohesion," Stone said.

The course is comprised of 18 stations. The first are relatively easy. For example, one of the first stations is a low balance beam. Everyone must get onto the beam.

Each of the stations is more difficult than the previous and has a different lesson. Stone said the entire course helps develop teamwork.

"They have to get together as a group and work together," he said. "They also discover that one way may not work. It's an exercise in problem solving."

Some participants are assigned leadership roles during portions of the exercise. Other stations allow leaders to emerge on their own.

"If one person stands out as a leader, we may let them lead for a while," Stone said. "But then we'll give them a handicap, like blindfold them or not let them speak.

"It is definitely a confidence builder," he said. "They see this big wall and say no way. Then, with a little planning and teamwork they are up there. I tell them what they can't do. Then I leave it to them what they can do. They come up with the options."

Another of the participants this week is William Campbell of Cape Girardeau. "It's been good," he said. "When you throw a group of teenagers together who don't know each other, you're asking for trouble.

"But I think we've worked together really well, with a little help and encouragement. We have to figure out what needs to be done and how to get it done."

Campbell said that a tiny fenced square was the toughest obstacle.

"You have 18 to 20 people inside, and if one person touches the fence, we all die and have to start over," he said. "At first everyone had their own ideas and started out. Then we decided we would have to work together and make a plan."

Chris Garcia of Marble Hill said, "We learned to work together and to trust each other. Those are skills I think we need on the job, and I've really had fun. It's challenging. You use both your brain and your physical skills."

Cory Lee of Millersville said, "It's great. I like this. I'm always first because I'm the littlest, but you've got to work together. If you don't, you usually can't get it done."