Return to Your Grade School Field Trips

How did you hear about Challenge Discovery? Word of mouth? Did you Google team building in Richmond, VA?

Reality is that you probably heard about us from a neighbor, a family member, a colleague, or someone that has participated in one of our powerful experiential learning programs at Challenge Discovery. Why did you hear about us from them? Because they had such an extraordinary experience that they told you about it and they suggested you try it too.

I heard about Challenge Discovery from a job posting resource at the University of Richmond. Some of our facilitators heard about us from a roommate, their dentist, or they were a participant with their own group. Most of our clients don’t even remember how they heard about us. They just know they did, and they’re glad they did.

Have you ever heard that you are only 6 times removed from every single person in the world? We can’t prove that, but if you are in the Richmond area, we’d be willing to bet that you know someone who has heard of or been to Challenge Discovery. Very few of the groups that come for one of our programs come without knowing anything about us.

Last week, the Frank Batten School from the University of Virginia came to our high ropes course for one of our Transformational Learning programs. It just so happened that while the group from UVA was up on the ropes, I was giving a tour of the ropes course to two teachers from Collegiate School, one of our long-standing clients. While standing there watching the team from UVA make their way across the Lateral Limbo, one of eight team problem-solving challenges located 25-40 feet high, the coordinator of the UVA group started telling me about how they had heard of Challenge Discovery. The student president of the Frank Batten School, who was traversing the cables above us, came to Challenge Discovery in fifth grade on a school field trip with her school, Collegiate. The teachers I was with even remembered the student from long ago. When they recognized each other, we were almost speechless. What a small world!

What impacted me more from that moment is that this student had such a memorable experience here ten years ago that she told her peers at the Frank Batten School, “We have to go to Challenge Discovery.” She persuaded them, they trusted her, and their Transformational Learning program more than exceeded their expectations.

I’m sure it wasn’t easy for her to convince her fellow students, let alone the faculty advisors and decision-makers of the school. But somehow she did. It probably wasn’t easy for your friend to convince you to check out our website, our Facebook page, or our blog that you’re reading. Yet somehow they did. Their experience meant enough to them and you meant enough to them to suggest Challenge Discovery for your group. Will your experience be something that impacts the rest of your life?