Adventures in Adventuring

I woke up this morning thinking about the Adventure Center. For those of you who didn’t grow up in Topeka, KS in the 80’s, the Adventure Center was THE event of the year for local grade schoolers. It was a program designed by the local school system to introduce concepts like “getting a job” and “learning to handle finances” in a safe and nurturing environment, but all we knew was that you got to sing songs every morning and eat interesting stuff and choose – CHOOSE! – what you wanted to do each day! Would you rather learn how to read cue cards and make a commercial or make mosaic ashtrays? (I think my mom still has mine somewhere…) Would you rather learn how to make granola or pretend to be a banker? It was staggering to have such freedom. If you were in the commercial class, some kids got to learn how to run the camera, some got to write the ad, some got to direct it and some lucky, lucky kids got to be in it.

It doesn’t take Einstein to figure out who loudmouthed her way into that job.

We learned how to write checks and balance checkbooks and count back money (which came in handy during my waitressing years) but the best part was the last day – the day where you got to choose your job. On the final day at the Adventure Center you got to act like an adult. In a big room they’d set up a mock town, complete with a general store, post office and bank and… and…. could it be? A real, working telephone system! That may not sound like much today but trust me, Operator was “the” job to have. You know those old fashioned “Number, please?” jobbies? The kind with the wires and the plugs and a person you had to go through in order to get your call placed? All the power, the control, was in one person’s tiny fists! Now imagine little Ali McKinney, drunk with power, stationed behind the booth. It was just as spectacular as you would imagine.
On job day, all the granola that had been made in the granola making classes was for sale in the town grocery store and the commercials that were made in the commercial making class (that happened to be pitching – you guessed it – granola) aired in all the classrooms. In order to buy the granola you had to work a job, all of which had different pay rates depending on the skill required and the amount of fun you’d have doing it (which, come to think of it, was great preparation for the real world). Somehow they made this all extremely interesting and exciting, no mean feat when you’re teaching 7-year-olds about financial solvency.

Sadly, the Adventure Center shut down after a few years. I can’t imagine why. It seems like we need more things like that – things that’ll help prepare kids for the future without scaring the living shit out of them. Seems like there are enough creative people in T-town to get that thing up and running again… (ahem, Missy, Jeff, Kayla, Ted, Val, Ed, GIB, ahem.)

R.I.P. Adventure Center. While you were around you were, oh yes you were, awesome.