Member Spotlight: Scott
Date postedDecember 18, 2023
Meet Scott Gray!
Scott (he/him/his) grew up in Silicon Valley and now lives in Lancaster, PA.
"For better and for worse, I am a product of growing up in Silicon Valley in the 1990s. I lead a sheltered childhood in a number of ways, but was raised in a hyper competitive environment. There are entire books written about growing up in the Palo Alto area that can describe the culture much better than I can. Currently I live in Lancaster PA where I commute to Northern Maryland to work."
He is the Challenge Course Manager at Genesee Valley Outdoor Learning Center (GVOLC).
Tell us a bit about what you do at your organization.
GVOLC is an organization that grew up with experiential education and has stayed true to that mission for the past forty years. Like many people working for independent not-for-profit organizations, I do everything from maintaining Accreditations, writing grant proposals, facilitating groups, cutting down trees, facilities maintenance and staff training. I like to think of myself as a “master of none” rather than “jack of all trades.”
Tell us more about yourself!
I am not very enthused by myself.
What excites you when you think about the future of Experiential Education?
I think we are at a point as an industry where the stereotypes of the past are slowly phasing out. There are a number of social “barriers to entry” that have often kept marginalized groups out of experiential education. Seeing the first steps toward progress in mitigating this issue means that our field will grow, have new voices across the scope of our programs and continue to be relevant in the future.
Who or what inspires you?
I am a secular humanist at heart and I find meaning in attempting to provide the scaffolding for future generations to be more ethical, intelligent and live more fulfilling lives than current humans. It might be overly saccharine or sentimental, but I honestly think that experiential education, character development and social-emotional learning is more or less about instilling universal ethics in our participants.
In your free time, we can probably find you:
I am both a father and Honestly, you would probably find me watching an old episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 or reading a book on the dangers of logical fallacies.
How long have you been involved with AEE?
My organization re-joined about nine years ago. Since then, I have presented a couple of times at AEE local and international conferences. I also wrote a couple of articles for the regional newsletter a while back. As a challenge course practitioner I was drawn to AEE as a balance to the more “recreational” side of our industry. AEE has been a reminder that there are like minded individuals across the world that still see a challenge course as an educational tool rather than an attraction to send tourists on.
What is the most rewarding part about being a Member of AEE?
The opportunities to attend and present at regional and national conferences.
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