GREENFIELD — Following a year’s hiatus to review safety concerns, Greenfield Community College’s Outdoor Leadership Program will be back in fall 2018.
When the program comes back, it will add an opportunity for an associate’s degree, a course of study beyond the previous certificate program.
For roughly 40 years, the program typically offered its roughly 20 students annually a chance to earn a certificate for their one year of education. The certificate could help people get a job working in the field, leading outdoors programs.
“There was a lot of long simmering goals for the program, for when it’s in operation, there just isn’t time to address,” said Bob Tremblay, who is in charge of the program. During the review, he said, they were able to both update safety issues, mostly centering around updating equipment, and adjust the scope of the course.
Now that the program will allow for students to complete an associate’s degree in outdoor leadership, it means students can also transfer those credits to a bachelor’s in this field.
Additionally, the goal of the updated program is to help professionals in the area, like Zoar Outdoor, and alumni to upgrade their certifications. So instead of taking the whole program, someone might be able to take a course or two to be qualified for a particular job.
About $15,000 will be used to update equipment, like ropes, but the main change for the renewal of the program will be its challenge course.
The roughly 30-year-old challenge rope course on campus, hidden in the hills, is a “relic,” Tremblay said. It has just barely passed its state inspections in recent years, so Tremblay said it’s time to put it to rest.
“It gets to a point where you’re throwing good money at bad,” Tremblay said. “It serves, but it isn’t current or state-of-art.”
Instead, the school will set its eyes on a potential state-of-the-art course to be built toward the front of campus. Still just an idea, but the hope would be to build a place where it could serve as a public resource, like for regular use by high school students, Tremblay said. Early estimates chalk it up to about a $125,000 project, so it would require fundraising and grant money, he said.
In the meantime, the college will likely rotate between neighboring courses, like in the Berkshires and in Brattleboro, Vt. This will serve as a chance for students to see how different courses operate, but also as a networking opportunity for them, because these are places where they sometimes get hired following their certification.