Greetings from The Mountain School!
I have spent fall term in the rolling hills of Vermont taking classes, making new friends and appreciating the fall foliage, just like many Exonians on campus. Though many aspects of The Mountain School are similar to Exeter, I cannot deny that I have had amazing opportunities here that I would not have experienced otherwise. I have spent four days camping alone in the woods, learned how to use a compass along with the story of the landscape around me to determine my location on a map, mastered my ax and tree-cutting skills and learned about the sustainable farming that we practice on campus.
One of my favorite experiences so far at The Mountain School was what we call Solo. After a month of preparation, all forty five students spent three nights camping alone in the woods. The outdoor program leaders gave us a base area along a brook in the White Mountains and then sent us off on our own with a compass bearing and a flag system so they could check in from time to time without human interaction. I valued my sixty seven hours of solitude greatly, filling thirty eight pages of my journal with writing and sketches. I implemented skills such as filtering water from the brook and using a portable alcohol-fueled stove to cook each meal. At night, I watched the sun set and the moon rise, and listened to the pitter patter of animals on the freshly fallen leaves from the confines of my hammock.
Most recently, I partook in a challenge called Find Your Way Back To Campus. The task at hand was to use a compass and an old map to determine my group’s location and then find our way back to campus along the most direct path. I chose the highest level of difficulty, so my group and I were blindfolded and then dropped approximately three miles from campus. After we examined the landscape and the magnetic orientation of our location, we traced a direct path on our map and found a compass bearing that would lead us over Patterson Mountain, a hill approximately 2280 feet in elevation. This opportunity taught me about myself and my ability to remain calm, efficient and confident in my orienteering skills among a group of teenagers essentially lost in the woods.
My class schedule at TMS is much like a school day at Exeter, except we replace physical education or sports practices with two and a half hours of work on the farm or in the forest surrounding central campus each day. During this daily work period, I have done everything from feeding the livestock to digging up a mile of potatoes to felling a 50-year-old sugar maple tree. I value this time not only for the strenuous physical labor that keeps me in shape but for the community it cultivates. There is nothing more wholesome than having casual conversations with one of the farmers, who also happens to be your dorm parent and your teacher, while plucking Brussel sprouts off the stalk, or preparing harvested produce for an upcoming meal. There is nothing more peaceful than the rhythmic sound of an ax repeatedly striking a tree trunk, or the back and forth white noise of a saw, or the splintering of wood fibers followed by a ground-shaking thud as trees fall on wood crew. As well, it is nice to have a study break from the rigorous morning classes before resuming with academics after lunch.
Another unique feature of The Mountain School is the weekly farm seminar, during which we learn about the more complicated aspects of farming such as maple sugaring, beekeeping, slaughtering animals and logging. Some of the most memorable farm seminars have included a hands-on interaction with our very own honeybees and an opportunity to watch local animal slaughtering in order to learn more about the origin of food products which we previously took for granted. In the coming weeks, one of our neighbors will bring his horses to campus for a demonstration on logging, and we will take a trip to a dairy farm in order to learn more about local dairy production.
As the semester winds down, I have been reflecting about my time at The Mountain School. It has provided me with so many opportunities to learn more about myself through leadership, passion and collaboration: three things which I have grown to value the most here. I look forward to rejoining the Exeter community this coming winter, but I will never forget The Mountain School mission to cultivate a group of students who “learn to know a place and take care of it.” Here, I have gotten to know the campus and the surrounding landscape, my fellow classmates and most importantly, myself.