Cornerstones brings Awesome Summer Adventure Program to Suffield

Jim Gayeski, a Suffield resident and owner of Cornerstones, a team training and development organization, has developed a summer adventure program for area children.

Jim brought his skill and training in the experiential learning approach into creating the week-long sessions. Participants will learn leadership and cooperation skills by engaging in a series of fun, engaging and exciting activities in various locales.

Cornerstones, in business since 2003, specializes in team building and consulting for a variety of corporate and organizational clients. The company has worked with a diverse array of groups, from Fortune 500 companies to various Boy Scout troops.

Gayeski first got his training in experiential learning with Project Adventure, a national company specializing in adventure education. That company's training centers around building trust among participants and tapping into emotional intelligence to boost morale and cooperation among members. Gayeski hopes to bring some of the model into the summer adventure program.

He has experience working with children, as his programs have been in place in the Cromwell school system for the past three years. He is also working with the town of Avon on a similar adventure program.

“We are talking about youth, character development, we are talking about leadership development, and in many cases we are talking about prevention,” Gayeski explained.

His work with schools have included education and exercises designed to combat bullying, encourage drug and alcohol prevention and address other issues for adolescents. His firm provides professional development to teachers in the areas of leadership training, as well as direct work with students.

The target age ranges for the summer adventure program are students in grades 5 through 8. Gayeski  specifically stressed the importance of such an experience for fifth-grade students ready to make the transition to the middle school level. It affords them the opportunity to meet new friends and mix with older children in a more relaxed atmosphere than a school environment.

Open to anyone willing to register, Gayeski said the geographical focus for the program was Suffield and the surrounding towns of  Granby, East Granby and Southwick, Mass.

The program's home base is the West Suffield Congregational Church and Cornerstones will provide transportation to the various activity sites. The Church offered up their facilities for use by the program and is assisting in spreading the word to congregations in the adjacent towns.

 The first session of the awesome summer adventure will begin June 27 and run through July 1. For each of the next three weeks, the program will be repeated for a new set of participants.

The schedule for the week-long program contains the following activities:

• Monday: On-site team building and group games
• Tuesday: Tubing down the Farmington River at Satan's Kingdom in New Hartford
•  Wednesday: Pine Lake challenge ropes course in Bristol
• Thursday: Canoe lessons and hiking at Winding Trails in Farmington
• Friday: A visit to Crabapple Whitewater in Deerfield, MA

Information on registration and further program details can be found at asa.cornerstonesonline.net. Registration is open until May 13. Each session is limited to 50 participants.