Dawson School teacher Craig Angus was looking for an experience that would help his AP geography students better understand the plight of Syrian refugees during a unit on migration that he taught in 2017.
He devised a refugee simulation that used the K-12 private school’s new high ropes challenge course. He only tried it once, with future plans derailed because of the pandemic. Retiring at the end of the school year, he got the chance on Monday to lead students through the simulation one more time.
He said the ropes course holds parallels to a refugee’s journey. You can’t relax while making decisions, he said, but instead need to be in the moment and think on your feet.
“This is supposed to simulate what life would be like for a refugee,” he said. “You have to overcome fear. You can try cooperation versus working alone and see what works better. This makes you think of danger and risk and just how uncertain the life of a refugee might be.”
Two AP geography classes went through the simulation Monday, with help from Challenge Course Manager Chris Schuhmann and other staff members.
Each student started with a pile of foreign currency to use to bribe border guards, pay their way out of dangerous situations or pay other students for help. The students weren’t provided with currency rates, forcing them to guess at values. The student who ends the game with the most money also wins a prize.
For the game, the student refugees traveled through six locations, starting on the ground ropes course in Aleppo, Syria, and going through Turkey, Germany, France, Canada and Pennsylvania before ending in Denver. Students roll dice at each location, giving them one of six scenarios that range from arriving safely to being forced to stay put to dying.
In Syria, for example, they could be stopped by government troops and conscripted into the army, captured by human traffickers or arrive safely in Turkey and ride in the back of a truck to Germany, hiding in a 55-gallon oil drum — a trip that takes all their money.
“It’s a dangerous journey,” Schuhmann told the students. “We don’t expect all of you to make it.”
Students who survive the challenges on the ground move on to the high ropes course, which is 40 feet in the air. Their first task is to go up a climbing wall to get to the course, with the top of the wall set as France. Then they must traverse four sections of the course, while avoiding an unlucky roll of the dice, to make it safely to Denver at the end.
Just like with refugees who decide to remain where they are, Angus said, some students decide not to attempt the high ropes course.
Natalie Korczak said she skipped going through the ropes course because it felt “really scary,” but she was proud to make it to the top of the climbing wall for the first time.
“When I go over migration in class, I’ll be able to relate to it,” she said.
Many of those who stayed on the ground, either by choice or a bad roll of the dice, quickly set up side businesses, taking money in exchange for assistance.
Maddy Halley took money from those waiting in line in exchange for securing a belaying harness needed for the high ropes course from descending classmates.
“This was so fun,” she said. “I liked the different obstacles and challenges.”
Madison Dodge, who made it through the high ropes course after a classmate brought her some money to pay a bribe, described it as “super scary, but super fun.”
“I liked the adrenaline rush,” she said. “You can feel how someone else would feel. You can really feel that fear.”
Schuhmann, who is moving from his role as the middle school French teacher to the full-time challenge course manager, said he’s working with teachers to incorporate the course into more lessons. He also teaches educators to use the course and is offering classes for parents next month.
Along with adding an experiential element to classes, he said, a ropes course makes adventure fun and gives students tools to navigate difficult situations, letting them experience stress and failure.
“When they fail or it’s harder than they thought, you can have conversations about how to handle it,” he said.
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October 18, 2022 at 07:21AM
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Dawson School teacher creates high ropes course refugee simulation - Longmont Times-Call
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