The Wolf Creek Academy staff builds relationships by “getting off the porch” for purposeful daily engagement with students.
Relationships are vitally important, because no one does life alone. Wolf Creek Academy staff builds relationships with the troubled teens in our program by stepping out of our normal routines and interacting with our students in the everyday moments. Daily activities like playing gaga ball, kickball, soccer, basketball, football, or frisbee builds and strengthens relationships. We engage the student’s artistic sides through playing, listening to or writing music with them. We take out crayons, markers, chalk, or paint and draw, craft, or do other
projects with them. It is not what we do that matters; it is that we take the time to do things with students that lets them know they are so important to us and that we care deeply about them.
“Getting off the porch” at Wolf Creek Academy boarding school for teens might also mean leaving campus and going on adventures with our students. The memories that stand out over our lifetimes are not usually the regular everyday stuff, but the big things that challenged us to get out of our comfort zones. We purposefully build these types of events into our monthly calendar. We get off the porch and challenge ourselves right alongside the students as we go: zip lining, white water rafting, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, spelunking, horseback riding, rock climbing, or taking a trip on an old-fashioned railroad train. High-fives with a student as we conquer our fears or experience something awesome for the first time right alongside them.
All of these things are ways we intentionally “get off the porch” to build relationships with our students. Along the way, we build trust and earn the right to speak into their lives, inviting them to change and become the best versions of themselves!
