Rafting Trip: One More Observation

In June 2025 we went on a cool Rafting Trip organized by Ms Svetlana and Mr Thomas. The most important thing was to have fun, but along with it, our Academy students learned a few valuable lessons – and I am not talking about checking the water depth before jumping in! 🙂

When it comes to rafting, you are not on your own. You are a crew member. With 3 or 4 other people. And to move forward, you need to work as one.

Sure, it can sound easy enough – but you need to keep in mind that not everybody can paddle with the same force or at the same rate. Additionally, if someone cannot keep up, you can’t simply paddle stronger “for them” from your position – in such case, the raft would start spinning around and no one would get anywhere.

Does it mean that those who can paddle fast will be at a disadvantage, if their crewmates can’t paddle at the same rate? Yes and no.

We paddled on the river for two days and on both days, we held a competition who’s raft will arrive first. In such competition, there are no individual winners, just a winning raft. Sure enough, some could say that it’s unfair, that their crewmates didn’t try hard enough.

On the other hand, the students discovered a magical thing – that they can encourage their crewmates in their work and intentionally redirect part of their effort to this cause. It may sound like a cliché, but the curious thing is that it worked! Indeed, it wasn’t always about gentle words. And when my students that I had spent a year with started yelling at each other in a manner that a random bystander would call aggressive, I was really thinking about stepping in. Curiously, the students who were being “encouraged” did not break down or take it too personally (and I asked about it afterwards!), but for them, they felt like it was the energy they needed. It was a challenge they felt they needed to overcome. And in case some students reached their physical maximum, the “encouraging” ones valiantly stepped in and changed paddling positions, so those who needed it could unwind for a while.

In the end, when they got off the boat, they all shook hands and sat down around the fire as friends, talking and enjoying the evening until night. And they understood, as a community, they can achieve much more if they support each other.

(And as for the competition, our boat finished second, but we all felt like winners – including me, for having such amazing students!)

All pictures by Mr Raphael Ruz.