Experience Areté
The Areté Experience is really about being around a peer group that explores their sense of self and develops an ability to be open to possibilities and creativity and by doing so they foster a solution focused approach to living their life. The learning process at Areté is primarily experiential in nature and involves low and high challenge courses, though the curriculum is designed to be challenge by choice. Returning participants are eligible to experience mentorship roles.
Being self-motivated, self-assured, confident and happy are descriptions of a product that can't be purchased instead they are a result of process that we call Areté. So come and experience Areté!
Testimonials
I would say pretty much every activity helped me develop skills: from the "small" activities to the big ones. The small activities, like the "I like to move it, move it", the talent show, "bumpity bump bump bump" or the game show helped me gain confidence and be comfortable with myself and with people of my own age. Larger activities and experiences, like being a mentor or being involved with the planning of Arete, helped me further my confidence, helped me learn time management skills, skills with leading and instructing people, and helped me get into college. I can't think of one experience that didn't help me in some way. I remember one specific experience that really impacted me. I think it was my first time as a mentor. Celine assigned me a mentee that I was really nervous about. I was a straight arrow in high school. I didn't drink, I didn't break rules, I really did everything "right". My mentee was the opposite. She was "wild" and loud. I was scared to be her mentor. "What if she doesn't like me?" "What if she wanted to do something bad or against the rules?" I talked to Celine about this and she basically said "Don't worry. Talk to her. Get to know her. It will be fine. You two will have a lot in common." And sure enough, we did. Now, when I meet different types of people, they don't really floor me anymore. I think a lot has to do with that first mentor/mentee experience.