When the NHL's Boston Bruins wanted to strengthen their team chemistry and increase their team performance they chose High 5 to make it happen.

After meetings with head Coach Claude Julien and key management staff, the decision was made that the team would come to the High 5 training site in Vermont for two days of intensive work together as a team.

In late September, Boston Bruins players, coaches and training staff arrived at High 5 for a custom designed program aimed at strengthening team connections, developing and broadening team leadership roles and creating increased accountability around performance objectives.

According to Jim Grout, High 5's director, the team was very engaged in every aspect of the program; "The success of this type of teambuilding effort is so dependent upon the buy in level of the participants. The Bruins exemplified the kind of commitment and energy that is needed to assure that what happens at High 5 carries over onto their life on the ice."

• Tutor and mentor disadvantaged youth
• Fight illiteracy
• Improve health services
• Build affordable housing
• Teach computer skills
• Clean parks and streams
• Manage or operate after-school programs
• Help communities respond to disasters
• Build organizational capacity

This year AmeriCorps will provide more than 320 Vermont citizens the opportunity to provide service in communities across Vermont. And before they embark on their year long assignments, AmeriCorps volunteers spend a day at High 5.

Our day consists of a variety of activities designed to help the group make friendships, discover commonalities and differences and form a bond that will last throughout their tenure as AmeriCorps volunteers. This day has become one of the highlights of our fall season as it is a day rich in meaning and purpose and leaves both the AmeriCorps volunteers and the High 5 staff with a great sense of pride and satisfaction.

In 2006 our building team built them a state-of-the-art course on utility poles, and we began training their staff. Since then, the DDR staff--a unique and dedicated group who are committed to their mission--bring us to their site to inspect and improve the course, and to continue the development of their adventuring skills. They also send members to our open-enrollment training here in Vermont and to industry gatherings such as the ACCT Annual Conference.

Their facilitators keep in close and regular touch with our team to seek advice, expand their skills and also to share their experiences. They do not limit their adventure education and challenge course skills to Camp E3; they also apply their training to many other programs:

Because the changing world of their business was requiring their R & D team to re-define their relationship with their customers and that meant re-defining their relationship with each other.

Through adventure education and shared observations, participants gain a greater awareness of the group process, and learn skills that, when transferred back to the office, can promote healthier relationships both internally and externally.

For the past four years, High 5 has been working with Autumn Harp's R & D team to accomplish these goals and according to Human Resources Director Joyce Diciano, the R & D team has become a leader throughout the company.

"I first heard about High 5 when I was attending a Governor's Leadership Retreat for small businesses. A friend who was also attending, highly recommended High 5 to assist me with the internal development of our R & D group. She insisted that there was no one better at developing a sense of team than the people at High 5. After four years of experiencing their skills and expertise, I wholeheartedly agree, there is no one better. They have succeeded in changing the culture of our R & D team and our company."

The Leadership School has become an educational force in the State of Maine, and High 5 has been there with them every step of the way. Since 1981, the award-winning Leadership School at Kieve has been developing leaders and strengthening communities by challenging students, teachers, and parents to think in a new way when it comes to the growth and development of Maine's citizens.

• All challenge course staff goes through High 5's Adventure Basics training, and some go on to take advanced and management courses. High 5 often travels to work with Kieve staff on their own course and sometimes individuals enroll in our open enrollment trainings to further their training skills. The staff's skills are practiced and reviewed often through internal trainings, and annually by High 5.
• The Challenge Course Construction Team inspects the courses annually, repairs as necessary, provide consultation for new projects and additions, and - like we do for all of our customers - keeps them advised of standards and updates in the industry. Most recently we installed a state-of-the-art challenge course in the newly constructed Buck Center, built specifically to house an indoor climbing wall and challenge course.
• Each year Kieve sends a large contingent of their staff to our Annual Practioners Symposium in February. It's a high-energy day of engaging and informative workshops, new ideas and joyous fun. Kieve staffers return to their program reenergized with new games, initiatives, tips and tricks.

An avid outdoor enthusiast, he spends his time on home improvement projects and adventure travel. His bike travels with him on work trips and he looks for riding opportunities wherever he happens to be. Dave holds degrees from Lyndon State College and Georgia College and State University.

His leisure time is spent outdoors, primarily hiking and climbing both rock and ice. He is a longtime AMC member, and recent member of the four thousand foot club. Gary also 
oversees the indoor rock climbing program at St. Paul's School in Concord NH, and spent ten years involved with the Boy Scouts of America, earning the rank of Eagle Scout. He also has what has been described as abnormal obsession for power tools.

Chris regularly presents at regional, national and international conferences where he shares innovative programming and activity ideas. He is a contributor to High 5's Adventure by the Handful blog. He has a degree in Recreation and Park Management from the Pennsylvania State University.

Whether she is leading a workshop, designing adventure curricula for schools and community groups, or facilitating team-building workshops, her passion is in helping adventure practitioners develop programs that are rich in spirit, practical in application and technically up to quality standards. She holds a Masters in Education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA. Nicki currently serves on the High 5 Board of Directors.

Jim presents regularly at AEE, ACCT and AAHPERD conferences, regionally and nationally. He currently serves on the Certification Standards Committee of the Association for Challenge Course Technology. He has co-authored two books on adventure education, The High 5 Guide: Challenge Course Operating Procedures for the Thinking Practitioner with Nicki Hall and Back Pocket Adventure with Karl Rohnke. He has also written numerous articles for various publications in the field. He holds a Masters in Education from Salem State College in Salem, MA.

Todd spent 11 years with Project Adventure before joining High 5 as a founding member in 2000. He has been involved with ACCT since its inception and was present during the drafting of the original installation standards. He holds a BS in Outdoor Recreation from Unity College.