Grade Seven Field Trip

by Robert Shaw-Smith, Head of Year, Grade 7

Notwithstanding Charlie, Ivan, Jeanne and other soupy minor characters, the delayed departure (by 30 hours), a bus on which the video player didn’t work (DISASTER), and the rumors of mudslides and tornadoes (overblown, much like the weather I suppose), we arrived at Camp Tekoa for our field trip ready, willing and largely able.

Our leaders and guides for the forests of North Carolina are Inside Out. These agrophilic nomads treat the outdoors like the rest of us treat the Mall in Washington. It is sacred space, to be revered and restored to prelapsarian grandeur. The days were filled with tarp pegging, stove priming, rock climbing, trail hiking, and water purifying. The usual stuff! Delightful sight to observe is the seventh graders as they balk at the nature of the facilities, or should I say the facilities of Nature, and then slowly but surely conquer their fears and realize that they can survive while working together and developing self possession.

There were bee stings, snapped strings, blisters and bumps, but all came out smiling and racing each other to the showers.

Thanks to Thierry Darlis, Peluchi Pabutoy, Linda Winch, Darryl Brown and Johanne Jurecka for accompanying the group and for their company.

Until next year, remember to recycle and switch off the computers at night.