The full time OWLS staff is comprised of a program director, an associate director and graduate students from the George Williams College of Aurora University, Recreation Administration degree program and is augmented during busy times by seasonal and local adjunct staff. Members of our staff come from various backgrounds (college outing programs, summer camps, classroom teaching, etc.). One unifying characteristic of the OWLS staff is a passion for sharing the power of adventure education.
OWLS facilitators receive nearly 80 hours of technical training for the safe operation of the ‘high elements’ on campus and spend more than 100 hours in training to learn basic and advanced facilitation skills. In addition to formal training sessions, OWLS instructors also spend time shadowing one another in order to learn new facilitation techniques and to provide constructive feedback for professional growth.
In August 2008, the OWLS program director and associate director completed a week-long training and certification testing and are now recognized as certified Challenge Course Managers and Level II Challenge Course Practitioners in accordance with the Association of Challenge Course Technology (ACCT) standards. ACCT is the primary challenge course industry trade group that develops course construction and operations standards. In 2007 ACCT completed a multi-year process of developing the first truly national standards for challenge course facilitators and managers.
Holiday Home Camp seeks to provide a safe and productive environment for OWLS program participants, students and visitors. To accomplish this goal, the camp performs criminal history record checks as part of its hiring process. For certain positions it is necessary to identify individuals who have committed serious crimes and are not eligible for employment by law, or because their presence in the work place would create an unacceptable risk to our community.
Meet Our Staff
Eric Howden – Director
- Hometown: Milwaukee, WI
- Undergraduate Degree: UW-Madison - BA in Political Science
- Graduate Degree: Aurora University - MS in Recreation Administration
- Favorite past experience working with young people: I used to guide dog sledding trips in northern Minnesota and it was exhilarating to help participants overcome their initial misgivings about traveling over frozen lakes and sleeping out under the stars during cold winter nights but their ultimate sense of accomplishment at having succeeded at overcoming the challenges that they experienced made all of the effort and work more than worth it.
- Favorite thing about working for OWLS: We work with a number of schools that offer opportunities for their students to take on leadership roles within at their school and during their OWLS experience and it is wonderful to see these students return for successive years having grown and developed as people and as leaders.
- Future plans: To get my children up on the high ropes course.
- Random fact: Once was bitten on the hand by an overly friendly river otter during a trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
Gary “Big Dog” Cwidak – Assistant Director
- Hometown: South Bend, IN
- Undergraduate Degree: Indiana University - BA in Psychology
- Graduate Degree: University of Wisconsin Whitewater - MS in Counselor Education
- Favorite past experience working with young people: Working with ten 8th grade boys who had every difficult label the school could put on them. We co-created an amazing, heartfelt experience that left the school counselor and me in tears of joy by the end.
- What you like about working for OWLS: Professional staff, high quality programming, and diverse clientele.
- Future Plans (post-OWLS): What? Big Dog leave OWLS? Shame on you!
- Random fact: The nickname “Big Dog” not only reflects my nature, but after a day of bicycling, I really smell like a big dog.