Meet
Pam Schnake ’78. She’ll inspire you with enthusiasm, leadership, motivation
and creativity. Because that’s what she does for living. It’s also who she
is.
Pam
Schnake, a Decatur resident, is owner and founder of ELS Unlimited Inc., which
has designed and delivered team development training in Central Illinois since
1996. In the beginning, Schnake was the company. But barely five years
later, ELS Unlimited has a staff of 15 and last year provided services to over
4,100 participants.
ELS
Unlimited’s primary customers are college-level, youth and business groups
seeking to learn teamwork, communication and creative problem solving. Schnake
provides just that, by arranging interactive workshops for these people to learn
how to work better as a group and enjoy themselves in the process. Her
company’s business season runs from mid-April to mid-October because its
teambuilding programs are primarily held outdoors.
Her
motivation for helping others is simple. “Adults work so hard at their jobs,
and kids work so hard at their studies,” she says. “If they could have more
fun at work and be more effective and if the kids could get along and have
better friendships, so that they break down some of the barriers that stand
between each other and have a better understanding of one another, it would just
do so much for people.”
A
typical session of Schnake’s experience-based learning includes an obstacle
course, group challenges and cooperation exercises. A participating group is
provided with literature on approaches to teamwork, given materials to
accurately document the way they work together and encouraged to discuss how
they could do so more efficiently. The ultimate goal is for a group to come to
understand their strengths, weaknesses and leadership styles as well as to build
commitment to each other and overall team excellence.
From
stay-at-home mom to president of her own company - that’s Pam Schnake.
Read
the complete profile of Pam Schnake in the fall 2002 issue of Millikin Quarterly
magazine.
