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Philly Outward Bound kicks butt, jumpstarts guts

Strawberry Mansion woman is heart and soul of Philly Outward Bound

Jenn Raymond from Strawberry Mansion recruits 4,000 teens each year for challenging team-building treks in the woods.
Jenn Raymond from Strawberry Mansion recruits 4,000 teens each year for challenging team-building treks in the woods.Read morePHILADELPHIA OUTWARD BOUND

JENN RAYMOND from Strawberry Mansion spent yesterday anchoring the ropes for high-flying Philadelphia Outward Bound School fundraisers, including Mayor Nutter, who rappelled down the 31-story Brandywine Realty Trust building.

Raymond, the nonprofit school's recruiter, who has helped thousands of city teens live its adrenaline-rush adventures since 2002, spends her days off walking Strawberry Mansion's 3.8-mile Boxers' Trail and playing the Sedgely Woods Disc Golf Course.

Raymond said she took up disc golfing - flinging frisbees at targets along a wooded trail - because, "I don't have to go to a gym to get a good workout. I love the outdoors."

Raymond, 49, inspires that love in 4,000 Philly kids each year, convincing them that the pain of five-day "feel the burn" treks is worth it for the pleasure of knowing they've pushed themselves past personal limits to new self-confidence.

Raymond said the key to preparing recruits for the high-ropes, team-building training course in Wissahickon Valley Park and for the trek itself is telling the truth.

"Don't sugarcoat," she said. "Tell them about the struggle. For some kids, the hardest thing is rock climbing. If they're afraid of heights, I tell them, 'It's not about getting to the top. It's about getting as far up as you can.' "

For some teens, Raymond said, "The hardest thing about the adventure is the bathroom thing. They say, 'Ohhh, you have to dig a hole in the woods?' "

"Yes," she tells them. "You do."

Raymond was as challenged by her first Outward Bound trek as the Philly teens she recruits now.

"My first expedition was in Maine and it kicked my butt," she said. "We did a backpacking course on Baldface Mountain in 1999 during Hurricane Floyd.

"It rained for seven days. I was a wet dog. The rain kept falling. My sleeping bag was soaking wet. I'm like, 'Whoa!' But I found that extra something in me."

Raymond knows that the tenderfoot teens she sends out to hike in the Delaware Water Gap or Michaux State Forest near Carlisle, toting heavy backpacks, will work through the pain and discover that extra something, too.

"It's hard, but they come back smiling from ear to ear," Raymond said. "It's like, 'Wow! I can do anything!' This is what Outward Bound is all about."

A lot of the teens Raymond's recruited know that Outward Bound is what she is all about.

"I'll be walking down the street," she said, "and I'll hear someone say, 'Hey! Outward Bound!' They can't remember my name, so my name is 'Outward Bound.' I'm like, 'Hey! What's up?' "

After 14 years of empowering teens through extreme expeditions, Raymond is happy to be known as "Hey! Outward Bound!"

On Twitter: @DanGeringer