Our fall season officially kicks off this week, with six concurrent trips (in Beijing / Tianjin / Qinhuangdao / Inner Mongolia / Hangzhou / Dali) for International School of Tianjin students, grades 6 through 11. Before these trips, all 28 of our full-time staff for the fall rendezvoused outside of Beijing for several days of training.
This year, we were privileged to have Graham Wardle, of Bangkok-based Current Trends LLC, for two days of water safety and emergency procedures training. The training covered the full gamut of water safety, from kayaking to swimming to swiftwater. We are proud to report that all of our staff are now certified in water safety by Current Trends!
As part of the training, all of our guides were given an overview on changes to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) that we have painstakingly developed over the last few years. Next, Dylan, our Director of Operations gave an overview of facilitation, including theory and practice. This is an area that we are trying to emphasize and develop as a company, as we continue to move from merely organizing activities to facilitating learning experiences for participants on our programs. The training concluded with a refresher on wilderness first-aid. Even though all of our staff are expected to have first-aid certifications from reputable third-party organizations, we believe that the refresher is a good way to make sure that everyone’s skills are up-to-date.
A big thank-you to Graham, Dylan, Ryder, Raul, and the rest of the KA team that made this year’s training a huge success!