Tyndall, Chamber partnership reaches new heights

  • Published
  • By Ashley M. Wright
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Building team trust and self-confidence, Tyndall community partners participated in the base ropes course recently, which concluded with a climb to the top of a 55-foot rock wall and a zip line down.

The day was designed to take 17 members of the Bay County Chamber of Commerce Leadership Bay "comfortably out of their comfort zone" and was an opportunity for experiential education in a safe environment, said Bob Nichols, Air Force Research Lab contracted machinist who was the lead volunteer facilitator for the course.

Bonita Bay controls the facility located near the paint ball field and certified volunteers run the course. Normally, the ropes course is used by ten or more organizations a year.

"I've have had a great experience doing this," said Capt. Mona El Oueslati, 83rd Weapons Evaluation Group weapons analyst and ropes course volunteer. "It is great team building."

This was the captain' s first time as a volunteer at the course; however, many of the others have been helping for years.

"Leadership Bay has been coming the entire time I've been out here," Nichols, who has been volunteering for 15 years, said.

The Leadership Bay mission is to cultivate a broadened network of well-informed leaders whose strengthened commitment to community involvement will affect positive change in Bay County, according to the Chamber' s website.

The group began the day-long course doing simple team building challenges and ended with a self-challenging course. Many of the first events of the day focused on communication. Toward the end of the day, the group faced their fears as the climbed up the towering wall and zipped down more than five stories.

Participants will take what they have learned from the day at Tyndall back to their jobs in the community.

"The activities have taken me out of my comfort zone," said participant Brenda Parker. "It has been a blast. I learned a lot of great things [and found] strength I didn't know I had."

Leadership Bay will return to Tyndall, which has a more than $500 million yearly economic impact to the local area, for an official base tour in the upcoming months.