This is Issue 7 of your MyWatchmates newsletter, hopefully fulfilling our goal of keeping the flame alive.  Whether you completed your course 46 years ago or last month we try to ensure the content is relevant and interesting.  We have a Greatness theme running through this issue, and once again Dan's Environment Corner is worth a serious read and ponder!

I would like to set off with this quote which I believe you should all be able to relate to:
Nothing is free, we used sweat, blood, injuries, smile, laughter, etc and in return we gained friendship, self confidence, growth and lots more that no words can describe!Mei, Southern Cross SX518S, chinese

Enjoy the final days of daylight saving.

Plus est en vous!

Feature
Striving for Greatness

Regular Features
Dan's Environmental Corner - Water: The elixir of life
Website tip - Privacy Options

Regular Pieces
Inspiration - Beijing 2008
PT...?!
Where are we in 2008?

What's New
Live the Dream
A big thank you to...

I’ve often said, the only thing standing between me and greatness is me. Woody Allen

You are, consciously or not, surrounded by and influenced by values. 

You have your own values, they represent your personal preferences and priorities.  They represent what is most important to you in life for example, health, security, family etc.  In the last three years Outward Bound courses included the objective of getting students to consider their own, others and Outward Bound's values; to apply these values to life and to develop skills to resolve values conflicts.

In 2005 Outward Bound convened a panel to formalise and clarify the organisation’s fundamental course objectives, design principles and values. The fundamentals document is a valuable resource for current and future staff as Outward Bound strives to move from ‘good to great’.

According to Kurt Hahn "the purpose of education is to impel people into value-forming experiences”.  As such, values are a key element in any Outward Bound New Zealand programme. To us here at Outward Bound, values are key principles that provide a foundation for our behaviour and choices and they define and distinguish our courses from that of other providers of adventure based education.

As a values-based educational organisation, Outward Bound New Zealand places emphasis on these values:

• compassion
• greatness
• responsibility
• integrity

These values are central to our mission and objectives, are promoted within our courses, and form the basis for all relationships – students, staff and community.

During the fundamentals development process, there was much discussion about what values best describe that which we stand for. The above four values have very definitely achieved this aim. However, this was not an easy process and there was much spirited debate about what the final list should be; and how each of these terms should be defined. Perhaps the most contentious value was the value of 'greatness'. The panel identified that Outward Bound New Zealand was very much about impelling individuals to fulfil their potential. They sought for a word which best described this concept - the result was 'greatness'. The definition: “to achieve full potential - to be your best self” provides greater clarity about what we mean by this term. Indeed, the value sits very well with Outward Bound’s own organisational journey of moving from ‘good to great’.

These values are integrated through all that is done at Outward Bound. They are also “kept alive” through incorporating them as part of the everyday language and become an integral part of the Outward Bound experience as we ask students to consider our values and what they mean. It is not uncommon to hear students refer to these values in their own everyday speech by the end of the course. Our hope is that you continue to do so once you are back home.

Send us an email about how you have incorporated what you learned about yourself and others back into your everyday life.  This could be at home, school, work, out with friends etc.  The three best submissions will receive a copy of Michael Henderson's Finding True North.

The most important thing is to know what is the most important thing
Michael Henderson

Speaking of 'greatness' this is us celebrating winning the 2007 JRA/Unlimited Best Place to Work in New Zealand Survey.  We also won this honour in 2005!








Finding True North is a fantastic book written by Michael Henderson (Michael wrote the piece on values in Issue 2) and is used on Outward Bound courses.  It retails for approximately $25.00 and is available at most book stores.

Dan Moore is an instructor at Outward Bound.  His first course was Course 500!  This month he is instructing an Aoraki Bound course.

Water is fundamental to our life on earth. We use it everyday, in many ways and it provides organisms, ecosystems and the atmosphere with the ability to be healthy and sustainable. As humans we are lucky in the fact that we have control over how we use water. 

Some quick facts on how we use water (in litres):
                   

                 

As New Zealanders we are extremely fortunate to have a large supply of freshwater that supports both life and our lives recreationally and productively. The freshwater we see in lakes, streams and rivers is actually a very small part of the total amount of fresh water that is present at any one time.

• Average domestic use per person per day is 180 litres.

The majority of fresh water in New Zealand is stored in underground aquifers and lesser amounts in ice, snow and glaciers. The other form of water apart from liquid and solid (i.e. ice) is water vapour and this is held in the atmosphere and distributed around the land and the globe depending on weather and topography. Depending on the location, it is this underground flow of water or ‘ground-water’, that provides the majority of our water for personal and industrial use. We use this water for things such as bores, town supplies and irrigation. 

• If we include the ‘big’ users e.g. hydro, irrigation and industry we use 82,000 litres of water per person per day (about 8200 buckets).

The quality of New Zealand’s water is part of our national identity. For example, our rivers are an especially unique part of our character as a nation. We swim and kayak in them, drink from them, admire them and also use them for producing electricity, horticulture and agriculture.  

• There is over 200,000km of rivers in New Zealand.

However, New Zealand has finally reached the situation that many other countries already have. We now have to start to be concerned about how much water we have, how it is used, what is polluting it and how we protect its sources.

Our continuing demand for more water means the sources are shrinking.

          

If you can take away some key actions from this article they would be:

• to apply these changes at home
• to educate others and encourage them to do the same
• to go for a swim 

Without even realising it your Watchmates may not be able to get in contact with you even though you have accepted their requests for contact. 

When you complete your profile you are given three options for your address, preferred email address, work phone, home phone and mobile phone numbers (as pictured).



The three options and what they mean are below.  In short if you choose No one none of your Watchmates will be able to contact you.  If you are keen to maintain and reestablish contact therefore the best option is to choose either All MyWatchmates or Restricted - ask me first.  To update your current settings, login and click on My Profile and select from the drop down items to the right of the fields. 

• All MyWatchmates (preferred): means all other MyWatchmates members will be able to see these contact details
• Restricted - ask me first (preferred): means you can choose who you provide these details to. If a registered MyWatchmates member wants to see your details they will need to press a "request details" link that will appear next next to your name in the website. If they click on this link it will generate an email to you via the MyWatchmates site which you can either accept or decline.
• No one: means these contact details will not appear on this website for anyone else but yourself and Outward Bound.  This means no one will be able to contact you from this site.

It's that time of year when our friends at Kathmandu invite people to apply for one of the EIGHT scholarships they are offering for Outward Bound courses.  If you know someone who would benefit from attending a course click here to go to the application form and nominate them or grab an application form in store at Kathmandu.  Please note applications close 4th April 2008 - so you need to get in quick.

It is approximately 150 days until the Beijing 2008.  We would like to wish our Outward Bound alumni all the best in her pursuit of gold for New Zealand.

Sarah Walker - MBS492 - BMX

Who have we missed?  Who do you know that has achieved greatness is their chosen sport, profession, hobbie...  Let us know.

Here are some others that we know about:
Rowing
Peter Taylor - CDC501A
Storm Uru - CDC501A (good luck to you both in Poland for Olympic qualification)
Nathan Cohen - CDC501A - (good luck for making Beijing in the Double Scull)
Tamsin Gilbert - CDC501A - U23 Quad Scull to Junior World Championships
Rosslyn Knox - - CDC501A - U23 Quad Scull to Junior World Championships
Simon Watson - - CDC501A - U23 Men's Eight to Junior World Championships

Mountaineering/Para Olympics - Cycling
Mark Inglis - D254

Cricket
Adam Parore - D201

Rugby
Gary Whetton - C196

Art
Irene Fergusson - M518 - 2008 Adam Portraiture Award

If you are based in any of the cities below and can spare half an hour to share your experience with prospective students please contact Tracy.

Hamilton - March and June
Napier - May
Christchurch - May and October
Whangarei - May
Wanganui - May
Nelson - July
Timaru - August
Auckland - August
Wellington - August
Invercargill - August

...Damian Rogers - Auckland, Larissa MacMillan - Waikato, Peter Boyd - Victoria, Amanda Owen - Otago, David Talbot - Otago for helping out at the recent run of expos and events that we have been at.

Outward Bounder Gerard Dunne (Hillary 244, Scott A385/1) is running the 2008 London Marathon on 13 April raising funds for Outward Bound NZ, as well as his UK sports charity.  If you’re a runner, or you just prefer to watch others torture themselves, and would like to sponsor Gerard per kilometre (42 if he makes it!) in support of Outward Bound, please contact Tracy or Gerard, for a sponsorship form.  No funds are required until after the marathon.  Gerard has run one other marathon – Rotorua – which he survived (just).



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