6th – 8th Grade: Future Leaders
Dear parents,
We ask you to channel your inner-adolescent for a moment. Ready? Here goes. . . .
Finally my parents are letting me meet my friends to play and explore in Rock Creek Park. I grab my skate board and dash along the side roads over to our favorite section of the park. As I zoom towards the trailhead, I see my buddies and feel the bliss of independence. I arrive, stash my board behind a tree and we head off on a hike. While exploring a cool rock outcropping, my friend slips and cuts his leg. No worries, right? I’ve seen this on TV and fashion his t-shirt into a makeshift bandage to wrap the wound. Onward we go but when I check out my handy t-shirt bandage, I see that blood has soaked through. I reach for my cell phone to call my mom but my phone battery is dead.
What do I do? How do I help my friend. . . .?
The Elements is partnering with local company, Forrest First Aid to host a unique experience providing Junior Crew with an age-appropriate and active program focused on leadership and wilderness first aid. Through fun and action, your child will gain valuable life skills so that they will be prepared for the bumps and bruises of growing up.
Details at a glance
Age: 6th – 8th Graders
Days: 5 Mondays (also being offered on Wednesdays)
Location: Glover Archbold Park
4:30 - 5:45: In the woods adventuring, exploring and getting grounded!
Highlights
EXERCISE:
Hikes & exploring
Fun action-packed activities that tie back into first aid & leadership skills
BUILD SKILLS
Each session will have a different focus:
Gaining perspective and assessing where it hurts
Prioritization, decision making, & treating emergencies like choking, bleeding (think a nice slice to your hand while whittling a super cool “Mandalorian” statue).
Problem Solving and dealing with breaks, scrapes, strains, and sprains.
Resisting peer-pressure and dealing with “The Elements” (think lots of sunshine, but not on a cloudy day).
AND ON THE FINAL DAY: A survival scenario to practice your skills.
A STORY TO TELL
All 5 weeks will follow a storyline to keep students engaged in the adventure!
Meet Forrest Holcombe:
Forrest attended American University graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2020. During his time at AU, he was involved in several organizations, including working as a Public Safety Aide for the campus police and researching first aid teaching pedagogies while abroad in India. He is a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), with clinical hours in both ambulance and emergency room environments.
He first developed his passion for emergency services in 2012 when he joined the Boy Scouts of America Fire Department Explorers program. He is also an Eagle Scout.
The following year, he moved to Hong Kong where he served as a medical team member, and later a medical team leader, for the Hong Kong Rugby Union, working at major international sporting events, as well as teaching students first aid. Forrest also served as the Senior First Aid Officer for Hong Kong with The 24 Hour Race, an international youth endurance event organization. While living in Hong Kong, Forrest advocated to raise cardiac arrest survival rates in the city, ultimately presenting at a local TEDxYouth event in 2016 (https://youtu.be/Hl6Soam4ZPI). After graduating high school, he moved to Laos to work for Pass It Back, a rugby for development organization, designing play-based first aid in sport training and serving as the team medic for the Lao National Rugby Team.
He is an aspiring physician, and is interested in the intersections of clinical medicine, emergency management, and global public health.
Most recently, Forrest founded Forrest First Aid (http://forrestfirstaid.com), a small company providing customized first aid training and supplies to meet the needs of small groups or activities. He also maintains several social media accounts (@forrestfirstaid) in order to provide individuals and families with information about performing first aid, especially with minimal equipment.