It may be the challenge, the opportunity for teamwork, or just the positive atmosphere, but it is undeniable that Owl Adventure holds a special place in the hearts and minds of students who take it. Physical Education Teacher Brian Hetrick teaches an extraordinary class that is as much about building strong working relationships as it is about physical fitness. The three main tenets of Owl Adventure are teamwork, cooperation, and trust. These three points each represent aspects of relationship building that are often neglected in a society so focused on either academic or physical prowess at any cost. Owl Adventure is different. It offers a physical challenge as well as a mental challenge.

Owl Adventure newcomer and sophomore Carl Zou said, “Normal gym incorporates sports and activities that focus on physical and athletic prowess, while Owl Adventure demonstrates teamwork and cooperation through many team building exercises.” Many incoming students like Zou wonder if they will be able to climb the wall, trust their peers, and succeed in such an unfamiliar environment. They question if they should choose Owl Adventure over other P.E. classes, but to these people, Hetrick always says, “Go for it! You will not believe what you are capable of!”
Owl Adventure offers many unique physical challenges. The postman’s walk, the sloth crawl, and the giant ladder are just some of the trials that will face students in Owl Adventure. Each activity, or element, as it is referred to by Hetrick, requires different strengths and provides a special sense of satisfaction that can only be achieved by the hard work and teamwork of the determined Owl students.

Owl Adventure sophomore Leonardo Sola weighed in on the thrill of overcoming one of Owl Adventure’s many challenges, saying, “You get to see the world from a new perspective, and that’s not something you get anywhere else.” Owl Adventure does not only require physical exertion; it also requires teamwork. Owl Adventure student and sophomore Alicia Viladiego stated, “It’s also great for learning how to work together as a team.”

Teamwork is an important life skill that cannot really be learned in a classroom. Owl Adventure’s philosophy is that it is best learned through several team-building exercises. Hetrick incorporates this concept in every one of his classes. He said on the subject, “I use the core goals to make up all of the lessons and am always thinking about how to incorporate these into lessons.” This idea coalesces into reality in the form of challenges like “minefield” and the “spider-web.” Both activities rely on communication and trust between classmates in order to conquer a challenge. The bonds formed by overcoming a challenge help develop a bond that allows Owl Adventure students to maneuver any obstacle in their lives that can not be overcome by a single person.

The relationships established in Owl Adventure last beyond the activities and elements within Owl Adventure and continues into life in LHS. Owl Adventure sophomore Sarah Denker said, “It’s a good way to become friends with people who you usually don’t see in classes, especially people from other grades.” Owl Adventure has a way of bringing together students of all walks of life and sparking friendships that remain for years to come. Sola believes that in Owl Adventure “you have to trust each other, and that forms a very special bond.” Trust is a quality most people do not bestow quickly, but Owl Adventure proves that this rule is not absolute. In Owl Adventure, students learn not only to believe in each other but to trust them enough to put their wellbeing in their hands.

Owl Adventure is many things. It is a physical workout in a way that no other P.E. class offers, it is an opportunity to make friends you normally would not ever meet, and it is an important teacher of life lessons in teamwork, cooperation, and trust. But most importantly, it is a case study in real-life relationships that everyone will experience with co-workers, friends, and loved ones. Hetrick said that the most important lesson he would like to impart in his students is “just to care about other people.” Owl Adventure offers an experience rarely seen in life, let-alone in a high school P.E. setting. Its goals are not to simply keep students physically fit but also to teach students lessons they will use in their everyday lives. Hetrick himself said it best when he stated, “The bottom goal is to have kids understand where these goals fit into their lives.”