Tech Challenge Course

The Team Effectiveness Challenge Course (TECH Course) at Michigan Technological University is an outdoor adventure education program with an approach to learning through experience. Much of what is important to individual and group success today does not only come from technical expertise or the right connections. True success, the kind you know in your heart and soul, is measured by feeling empowered to make a difference. While a majority of participants on the TECH Course are Michigan Tech students, the course is open to any group interested in seeking an honest and unique method to examine their interactions, strategize ways to improve, and have some fun along the way.

Course programs generally begin at the head of the beautifully wooded Tech Trails off of Sharon Avenue. Groups spend an average of four hours together, getting to know one another, sharing expectations and goals, building trust, and facing a variety of physical, emotional and mental challenges.

There are over twenty-five group elements and initiatives on the TECH Course. A typical group will have the opportunity to work and play through 4-5 in a four hour program. The number of elements available to a facilitator allows more flexibility in selecting elements and initiatives that will help the group strive to meet goals set at the beginning of the program. The number of elements also leaves opportunity for the group to return to the TECH Course and dig deeper into the dynamics of the group and come to greater understandings of themselves and each other.

The TECH Course is one of thousands of adventure based education programs worldwide. The TECH Course currently offers both low (those able to be safely spotted by other participants) and high (those with mechanical safety systems such as belay lines) element initiatives. Typical high element courses consist of 5-6 challenges either built into the trees, with utility poles, or self-supporting towers ranging from twenty to forty feet in the air.The long-range goal for the TECH Course is to add additional low and high element challenges as demand and funds allow.

The TECH Course promotes individual decision-making and group effectiveness through the use of the "Choose your challenge" and the "Full Value Contract" concepts. The facilitators model these concepts and the group is asked to support one another through these concepts throughout the program. "Choose your Challenge" ensures that individuals do not participate in ways in which they are uncomfortable, and that they recognize that attempting a challenge is as important as a successful completion. The "Full Value Contract" asks group members to stay present, to be safe, to speak the truth, to pay attention to one another, and to be open to outcomes. These concepts are drawn from Project Adventure, Inc., a leader in the field of adventure education.

The President's Office generously contributed initial funding for the construction of the course elements and supplies in August 1996. This contribution covered initial course construction, supplies, and training costs of facilitators. All groups are charged a fee for each program.