Over five years and $450,000 later, the Florida Tech Challenge Course sits unused and forgotten by the university that bears its name.
Located 20 miles south of Florida Tech in the city of Fellsmere, the challenge course was constructed to supplement the university’s ROTC program while simultaneously improving the university’s public outreach.
It was officially opened on March 11, 2013, in a grand ceremony. Those in attendance included previous Florida Tech President and CEO Anthony J. Catanese, Florida Congressman Bill Posey, Fellsmere City Manager Jason Nunemaker, Fellsmere Mayor Susan Adams, Indian River County Commissioner Peter O’Bryan, Florida Tech vice president of research Frank Kinney and Capt. Lawrence Lewis of Florida Tech’s ROTC.
Costing an initial $400,000, the course was constructed on the upland of a 100-acre nature preserve and features four main sections: a 100-meter marine obstacle course, a quarter-mile long air assault course, a 300-meter long high-ropes course, and a leadership reaction course comprised of 16 standalone elements.
Each section was professionally built to meet military specifications. They are near identical replicas of the obstacle courses used at Paris Island, Fort Campbell, and Fort Knox. The layout, materials, and even colors were chosen to mimic the original courses.
Early in its life, the course was prominently known in the area. The university published multiple news stories relating to its opening and operation. Several websites and travel brochures listed it as a “must-see” destination for the area.
However, as time passed and Florida Tech began to experience financial difficulties, the university decided to focus its attention elsewhere; dedicating only a skeleton crew to handle all activities related to the course and ceasing to advertise the course’s existence almost entirely.
“I do the maintenance, the scheduling of events, the marketing. Basically, I do everything,” said David Beach, assistant director of marine and outdoor operations. “I have 11 other facilitators part-time that I can use, but I’m the only full-time. It’s probably about $10,000 a year to maintain [the course].”
He and his staff find themselves in the position of struggling to maintain and advertise the course while also being confronted by the university’s apathy.
Only a single billboard located beside I-95, created and maintained by Beach and his team, stands as a reminder that the Florida Tech Challenge Course still exists.
“I’ve had it thrown in my face that we’re not newsworthy. Well, it is. We’ve had the Chinese Olympic softball team out there. For three years we did a Brevard leadership conference with all 16 high schools in Brevard county,” Beach said. “That’s been one of my challenges, getting people at Florida Tech to realize what we have here. Even just to talk it up where ever they’re at. I don’t care if it’s a dinner party or some other function. [Florida Tech] has a world-class course. I’ve had universities from all over the country call me and want to know where we got this thing.”
Today the course is seldom used by the university. Occasionally one of the university’s varsity teams utilizes a section for exercises, but what little use the course still sees normally comes from third party organizations without communication or involvement from Florida Tech.
Scheduling records show that the course and its facilities were used 104 times over a three-year period. This is an average of once every ten days. The usage was predominantly local law enforcement, family events such as birthday parties and team building exercises for youth sports.
One of the youth sports teams recently undertook a portion of the leadership reaction course. On February 24, the Hobe Sound Youth 15 girls’ soccer team attempted four elements of the course. The elements of the leadership reaction course are designed not to be overcome through strength or agility, but through planning and group effort. The result is a greater degree of trust and cohesion for the entire team.
“It really helps them; problem solving, critical thinking, working together.” said the team’s coach, Paul Gibbons. “It’s just brilliant. This will be the first of a series of courses we’ll do.”
Even young participants echo the effectiveness of the exercises.
“We made a plan and it just didn’t work out at all, but then we started to listen to each other,” said Rylie Siemsen, a member of the soccer team. “It really helped me know I can do this; I can accomplish this with my team.”
It’s this positive word of mouth and advertising outside of the university that David Beach hopes to use to rejuvenate the course. He and his team are finalizing plans for the largest event in the course’s history.
“We are doing a mass event where we hope to have 1000 people run the obstacle course in May. It’s not through the university, it’s through Trinity Fitness. They’re a nonprofit gym and that’s their fundraiser,” Beach said. “Last year we did just an obstacle run, and they had about 220 people, but this time they’re doing an obstacle run, weightlifting event, and 5k all on one day. Participants will participate in all three and we hope to draw about 1000 people.”
For more information on the Florida Tech Challenge Course, or to reserve your own event, visit https://www.fit.edu/continuing-education/challenge-course/
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Cover photo by Florida Tech