Press Release – The Dennis family, creators of Break Out Brownwood at the Brown County Museum of History, recently worked with the students at Jefferies Junior High School in Comanche to design their own escape room which will be presented to the school staff in February. The Gifted and Talented class from Jefferies school visited Break Out Brownwood as a field trip in May and enjoyed it so much that they thought it would be fun to design their own.
“We were freaking out, it was fun,” explained student Ryland Elliott, speaking of the adrenaline rush experienced while racing the clock to connect the clues in the escape room scenario currently open for reservations at the Brown County museum.
“We understood how they felt,” said Lasha Dennis. “That’s what inspired us to make Break Out Brownwood initially; visiting other escape rooms and wanting to bring that excitement and fun to our community.”
For the uninitiated, escape rooms are a growing phenomenon in the U.S. and around the world. They are especially popular in larger cities. Escape Rooms are games in which players are “locked” into a space. The players then have to find clues and solve riddles in order to escape within a one hour time limit.
“Escape rooms are great for families, friends, or students because they rely on team work and problem solving skills. They are even great activities for businesses as team building exercises,” Shannon Dennis added.
Donna Jones, who teaches the GT classes for the 6th-8th grade, said she first heard about escape rooms when her son participated in one in Austin. After their group escaped from Break Out Brownwood she realized designing one would be a good project for her kids.
“It was very GT centered as far as accessing their talents and abilities,” she stated, particularly noting the reasoning skills applied throughout the game. The students are still in the planning stages of their escape room, but it will have a history focus. The students will have to research a historical time period or person in order to incorporate factual elements into the room. The Break Out Brownwood team helped the students brainstorm and develop possible clues that they could use.
“Designing an escape room requires the students to use strategic thinking and teamwork. Creating a scenario with a logical, ordered flow is the goal; to lead people from point A to point B and successfully escape in the established time limit,” explained Joe Dennis. “This exercise will draw upon each student’s unique talents which these kids definitely have. The best clues and puzzles are those which a team creates for a specific scenario. The quality of any escape room is about the ingenuity and imagination of the team, not necessarily about their budget. I anticipate this group will come up with a stellar product.”
Break Out Brownwood has two Escape Rooms open now on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings by reservation only until the end of December. You can make reservations on their Break Out Brownwood Facebook page by clicking on the Book Now button. The Escape Rooms are also available other times during the week for school and youth groups, with discounts offered. For more information about the additional times and discounts, email: breakoutbrownwood@gmail.com.
