YOU MADE IT TO GRADUATION DAY!
Your Goal: Celebrate your success and request your pin
Welcome to the official Outward Bound crew. We’re proud of the effort you put in this week, and hope to see you and your school on a full OB Expedition in the future!
With your reflections from yesterday in mind, decide if you think you’ve earned your Outward Break pin. Be honest about any challenges, but also, don’t be too hard on yourself!
REQUEST YOUR PIN! If you feel like you gave it your all, complete our graduation form to download your Graduation Certificate and request your official pin. Go ahead, you’ve earned it!
The Outward Break Pin
An Outward Bound pin/patch would be most familiar lit by firelight in the dirt-lined hands of a student at the end of their expedition. The Pin/Patch Ceremony is a tradition in which our students are asked to look within themselves and to judge if they responded to the best of their ability in times of challenge. To some, this may manifest as conquering a mountain without stopping, or not complaining once. Though more often, students reflect that the defining moment of their experience is when they saw a crewmate struggling and carried their weight, or when they summoned the bravery to be vulnerable around a fire.
Each student chooses their own standard for excellence. If they believe they pushed themselves, and then went even further, they accept the pin/patch. Though if they sense that they could have done more in times of hardship, they might decline the token. In moments such as these, our instructors remind the student that the lessons we put them through were only training for life – and they are now Outward Bound. Should they meet the standard of leadership and excellence they set for themselves, whether in one year or ten, then they are welcome to come back to base to claim their pin/patch – and they do.
The pin you request may only be your first and it's just a token of the steps you've taken to discover more within yourself. Join us in the future and see what it takes to accept your pin after a full Outward Bound expedition.
Find a unique way to celebrate your OB Explorer’s accomplishments from this past week. Take them out for their favorite ice cream, plan a movie night on the couch, or make it a “kid’s choice” activity. No matter what you decide to do, try to remember to acknowledge their effort, and appreciate the time you’re spending together.
Now that you’ve completed your Outward Break adventure, what do you think you’d look forward to the most on a real Outward Bound expedition?
