“Being Comfortable with the Uncomfortable”: Adolescent Girls' Experiences of an Extended Outdoor Adventure Program
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18666/JOREL-2023-11750Keywords:
adolescent girls, outdoor adventure programming, focus group interviews, photo elicitationAbstract
This study examined the impacts of long-term exposure of outdoor adventure programming for adolescent girls. This qualitative analysis shares the stories of the 8th-grade students at the French Broad River Academy for girls, which is a private middle school that consistently intertwines outdoor adventure programming (OAP) into their curricula. Students reflected on what OAP has meant to them during their 2.5 years at the school. Photo-elicitation methods were used to capture these experiences. Girls took pictures of their outdoor experiences over the course of their final semester, and then used these pictures as a prompt to tell their stories during focus group interviews. Emergent themes from the focus group interviews included: Relationship & Community, Perseverance & Resiliency, Enjoyment & Finding Beauty in Nature, Leadership & Confidence, and Individual Growth. We conclude that adolescent girls’ participation in OAP can build self-confidence, increasing their likelihood of a bright future.
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