The Outside Group, Inc. - Team Building and Adventure Education Since 1997

The Outside Group, Inc.Adventure Education Since 1997

Home

Outdoor Team Learning Center

Teambuilding

Adventures

More

About Us

Contact

Blog Home
Outdoor Team Learning Center

Outdoor Team Learning Center & Alpine Tower

Alpine TowerThe Alpine Tower is a 55’ high ropes challenge course structure. Its unique design provides for more than 40 low to the ground team initiatives, problem solving challenges and team integration exercises. On the high end, it provides over 30 different routes to the top and can handle up to six climbers at any time. Some of the high elements on the Alpine Tower include the Cargo Net, Swinging Logs, Zen Seesaw, Bean Stack, TPT, Couples High V Walk, Rappelling and the Giant Swing by Choice. The Alpine tower can be used as an individual, partnering or team challenge. Our custom team challenge called Corporate Spheres can incorporate a group of 18 team members working together towards achieving the common goal. This is the only high challenge course team event of its kind and it’s only possible because of the Alpine Tower’s creative and singular design.The numerous routes and options on the Alpine Tower make it appealing to all climbing abilities from beginners to advanced climbers and for a wide range of age groups. The Outside Group’s facilitators will help the team to use the Alpine Tower as a tool to work on Teamwork, Trust, Communication, Risk Taking, Encouragement, Problem Solving and much more. Outdoor Team Learning CenterWe believe that when challenged with an adventure people bring forward their best and most powerful resources to overcome obstacles. We also believe that these obstacles can be best completed by the power of collaboration and trust. These are the founding believes that guided us to establish The Outside Group’s Outdoor Team Learning Center.For the past 10 years our Outdoor Team Learning Center has been host to more than 500 groups ranging from youth leadership, youth-at-risk, community, church, personal development, schools, universities, corporate, non-profit and government programs. Using Adventure & Outdoor Education curriculums we have provided learning and growth experiences to the leading and most influential groups in the Island. Located in the town of Salinas, PR, our center is only 40 minutes from the San Juan metropolitan. Salinas’s dry and sunny climate makes it a perfect setting for outdoor activities minimizing cancellations due to rain and adverse weather.

Teambuilding

Teambuilding Programs

image007

The Outside Group's Teambuilding Experiences are creative, innovative, emotionally involving, intellectually demanding and fun! With over 100,000 participants served, we are the experts in teambuilding in Puerto Rico. Our programs are tailored to your specific needs and can be as short as 30 minutes and as long as 3 days. Most of our teambuilding programs are portable and can be delivered on site at the workplace, conference room or outdoor venue. Scroll down to see some of our offerings.GeoTrek® Team Event (4 - 6) Hrs. - Bring your team outside for a team event that will stimulate them intellectually and physically. GeoTrek® is a team energizer and integration program using GPS technology in a high-tech geo search.After a brief introduction and training session, teams are assigned, are given their tasks and the search is on. Each small team needs to establish an efficient strategy and plan to achieve the goals. Teams soon realize that the company's goals will only be reached if a proper coordination and alignment of the small teams is achieved. A mid-program debrief and meeting helps all teams realize the need to integrate their learning and information about the course. The program ends with a final debrief and transference of learning session where key leanings are shared and discussed among all participants. GeoTrek® is a fast paced, outdoor teambuilding session that will uplift and motivate your team. Large group? No problem, the more the better! We have successfully facilitated GeoTrek® Team Events for groups of 500+ participants. You have an even larger group, call us, we love the challenge! GeoTrek® programs can be offered in any city, large outdoor area and in most resorts.Tall Ship Team Sailing (8-10) Hrs. - Come aboard our exclusive 131 feet historic sailing vessels in this unique teambuilding program. Teams of up to 35 participants are divided into crews or “watch groups” and are trained in all aspects of managing and sailing. Teams soon realize that lifting the anchor, raising the sails and getting the ship on her way require tons of collaboration and teamwork! Once underway, teams learn the fundamental seamanship skills required to use the wind as our power. By mid day groups enjoy lunch and a swim in the beautiful Caribbean Sea. The afternoon is dedicated to climbing up 100 feet to the top of the masts and performing trust and communication exercises on the head rig in the front of the ship. The day ends with the crew handing over the operation of the vessel to the teams on a homebound voyage. Back on port the team reviews the day's key learnings and make the necessary transferences of the experience back to their daily lives.2011 Tall Ship Team Sailing Season (Day Sails)January 17 through January 25January 30 through Fabruary 15Team Break-Out Sessions (30-60 min.) - When time is short and lectures long, a quick team exercise is the answer. Team Energizers (1-2 hrs.) - Let us kick start your sales meetings with an energetic team experiences that will serve as a launch pad to a successful and productive meeting. Teamwork Discovery Sessions (4-8 hrs.) - Active and energetic teamwork session that lets the team discover new insights into what it means to be an effective team. Teambuilding Performance Workshops (Multi-Day) - In-depth team development programs designed to assist your team to learn critical team distinctions and behaviors and to break through the team’s limiting beliefs. The workshops combine conceptual team theory, experiential exercises and behavioral team assessments tools.Beach Team Games (2-4 hrs.) - The expert alternative to a fun and meaningful beach teambuilding. Our BTG go beyond the simple beach olympics or goofy games and really challenge your team to plan, problem solve and coordinate as a team. Team Integration Experiences (4 hrs.) - Some times all we want is to share a meaningful and memorable experience with our colleagues. So how about if we build and fly a kite together, cook in teams to become Top Chefs, have a team wine tasting, have a team bowling challenge or learn life saving CPR and 1st Aid techniques.

Adventures

Wilderness Adventures

AT(1).jpg

194004_10150433987050023_707440022_17620712_5622796_o.jpg

193556_10150116871407724_647162723_6759543_6722296_o.jpg

194243_10150434273750023_707440022_17624192_549407_o.jpg

204493_10150116873732724_647162723_6759601_1918939_o.jpg

202129_10150434278660023_707440022_17624279_2189482_o.jpg

201692_10150116934327724_647162723_6760458_7650060_o.jpg

Wild Caving & Canyoneering Trips - Come explore Puerto Rico’s most beautiful and exciting natural areas. Rappel down waterfalls, swim in underground rivers, or immerse into unexplored caves and caverns. Adventure Travel by TOG - We love to travel to exciting destinations and experience our amazing world. Backpack through ancient Inca roads, climb snow covered mountains, or explore the Amazonian Rainforest. Come join us in our next international adventure!Next Expeditions: Roraima Tepuy, Venezuela - October 2011Mt. Kilimanjaro / Serengetti, Tanzania - February 2012

More

More Services NEW!!! TOG Bookstore NEW!!!

images

ACCT Challenge Ropes Course Practitioner Certification - Get Certified! TOG is the only company offering Ropes Course Practitioner Level I, II and Challenge Course Manager training in Puerto Rico. ACCT approved training and testing for all levels is available through our premier partners. Teambuilding Train-the-Trainer - Want to learn how to lead your own teambuilding sessions? TOG will teach you how. Learn the fundamentals of experiential team games and exercises. Our Train-the-Trainer workshops include proven planning tools, facilitation techniques, games trainer notes and lots of written materials to help you become a world class trainer.FREE Collaborative Games Workshop - Attention leaders of youth and community groups! TOG is committed in assisting young people learn how to become a productive member of a community. We will provide a fun 4 hour collaborative games session to any youth group. Call us and let’s have some fun together! Wilderness Medical Training and CPR - In 2011 TOG partnered with the Wilderness Medical Society to create Puerto Rico's first wilderness medicine training center. WMS is the world"s leading organization devoted to wilderness medical challenges. Jointly we are offering a 60 to 80 hours Wilderness First Responder Course (WFR). The WFR is the standard wilderness medicine course for outdoor professionals and trip leaderas as well as for anyone spending long periods of time in the wilderness setting. We also ofer the Basic (16 hours) and Advanced (24 hour) Wilderness First Aid course all certified jointly through TOG and the WMS. The curriculum and materials used for our Basic and Advanced Wilderness First Aid and WFR courses are developed by the Wilderness Medical Society and modified to tropical wilderness.TOG is also a qualified Educational Center for the Emergency Care and Safety Institute. Training is offered on First Aid, CPR & AED trough ECSI. More advanced medical training for industry and the workplace is offered through our educational partner Med-E-Train.Leave No Trace - The Leave No Trace program strives to educate all those who enjoy the outdoors about the nature of their recreational impacts as well as techniques to prevent and minimize such impacts. Since 1999 TOG Instructors have been certified LNT Master Educators helping develop LNT Principles and materials for Tropical Rainforest.Organizational Learning Consulting - Quality for Business Success is Puerto Rico's leading Management Consulting Firm. QBS develops vanguard research-based products that contribute to build stronger organizations. QBS and TOG have been business allies since 1997.Youth Leadership Development Programs - The Outside Group is a firm believer of the power and the potential of Puerto Rico’s young people. Since 1997 we have been committed to supporting hundreds of youth organizations in the Island in making adventure accessible to all young people. Not only have we served community and youth programs, but TOG's facilitators and educators are volunteers and leaders in their communities. They bring this caring, commitment, compassion and joy to all youth programs offered. We pay special attention to programs working with At-Risk and Out-of-School youth.An example of this commitment is the partnering between the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award International Association and The Outside Group, Inc. Both organizations have teamed up to present the prestigious International Award for Young People to all interested youth programs and young people in Puerto Rico.

About Us

About Us
Vision - Expand our leadership position in the adventure-based experiential education field in Puerto Rico through core knowledge, wide experience, constant innovation and world class service.Mission - Provide people, teams and organizations with unique adventure-based learning experiences that will promote reflection, learning and lasting change.Our Company - Established in 1997, The Outside Group, Inc. is the oldest, most experienced adventure-based experiential education program provider in Puerto Rico. We have successfully delivered thousands of program hours to over 100 local and international organizations (References available upon request). We are considered to be the experts in Challenge Ropes Course technology and Teambuilding programs in the Island.We are constantly in search of new and creative ways of expanding our services and meeting our clients constant growing needs. This is possible through an ongoing process of research and program development and by creating strategic alliances with different organizations and individuals. We believe that these efforts will add and increase value to our services and will assist us in achieving our organizational goals.Our Educators - The Outside Groups educators are the most experienced and professional adventure-based experiential education facilitators in Puerto Rico. Rigorously trained, they bring to every course the perfect balance between technical knowledge and interpersonal skills. Our educational faculty is recognized at a National as well as an International level, leading train the trainer workshops for other facilitators in our field. By far, the best Puerto Rico has to offer!Our company’s president, founder and leader, Mr. Karel A. Hilversum, combines his 20 year experience in the outdoor field with his formal education in Geography and a Master’s degree in Experiential Education from Minnesota State University, Mankato. He is an accomplished outdoor professional with extended wilderness travel experience in North, Central and South America through backpacking, canoeing. caving, canyoneering and high altitude Andean mountaineering. Karel lives in San Juan, PR with his wife Eva, son Koen Ilan and dog Lluvia.

Contact

PO Box 190761

San Juan, PR 00919

Tel: 787.982.0522

Cell: 787.627.1866

Email: learn_outsidegroup.com

The Outside Group, Inc

Karel A. Hilversum - Profile e-mail
Education M.S. in Experiential Education Specializing in Adventure Education Minnesota State University, Mankato, MNB.S. in Geography & Environmental Sciences University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, San Juan, PRProfessional Development & ExperienceHas lead over 600 Team & Leadership Development ProgramsExcecutive Reach Program - Project Adventure, Inc. Challenge Course Facilitator - Leahy & Associates, Inc.Challenge Course Construction - Rock Solid AdventuresGraduate Assistant, Adventure Education Program - MSUTower Instructor and Manager - Alpine Towers InternationalBSA National Camping School Instructor - COPE SectionBSA National Camping School Trained - Trek GuideCertified Trip Leader - National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC) InstructorNational Espeleological Society (NSS) MemberAlpine Mountaineering Training - Acadia Mountain GuidesFrench Speleological Society - Cave RescueNational Association for Search & RescueAmerican Canyoneering AssociationWilderness First Responder Instructor WMSNLP Certified Practitioner - INLPTALeave No trace Master EducatorEmergency Medical Wilderness First ResponderOutdoor travel & wilderness expeditions in USA (CA, AL, TN, GA, NY, NM, PA, MN, MA, KY), Europe (France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium) & Latin America (Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Argentina)Eagle Scout, BSA Troop 1 Guaynabo PR Assiatnt Scoutmaster BSA Troop 1 , Guaynabo, PRYouth Mentor Trainer - Puerto Rico Youth at RiskOther InterestsGuitar, scouting, parenting, poetry, photography, kayaking, sailing, scuba diving, astronomy, web design and philosophy.

"Great teamwork comes from overcoming challenges together, trusting each other and having the self-confidence to succeed"
Karel A. Hilverum, MS Experiential Education