Students Travel Over Thanksgiving Break
While much of the community headed home to their families for Thanksgiving Break, over 20 students instead dispersed across the country to Arizona, Alabama and California to participate in three different trips hosted by the Academy. Students were given the opportunity to sea kayak across the Point Reyes peninsula in California, hike and camp around the Grand Canyon or visit the Equal Justice Initiative and other historically important landmarks in Montgomery for the chance to grapple with past and present societal injustices.
According to Director of Global Initiatives Eimer Page, the programs had open applications last spring that were distributed to both current and newly accepted students who began attending the Academy in the fall. The selections were made by each program director in collaboration with Page, the Dean of Students office and the health team. Financial aid was made available to students receiving aid during the regular session at the Academy, and priority was given to students who could not easily return home over the break.
Page said that the trips that take place over break typically have either a strong curriculum tie or “link our students to fascinating people and places outside our campus,” and they are selected each year by the Off-Campus Committee. “Through these programs, I hope students will have the opportunity to broaden their perspectives,” she added. These trips aim to help students make connections with new people while educating them about a place, organization or skill. Page believes that such experiences rejuvenate the mind and foster leadership skills while developing the ability to function in a team.
“The travel was well-organized. I was never scared or worried about logistics.”
Ten Exonians traveled with instructors from the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) to Point Reyes in California, where they sea kayaked along the Point Reyes Peninsula, went backpacking, acquired outdoor leadership skills and encountered wildlife such as seals, tule elk, egrets and sting rays. The students were accompanied by Community Service Coordinator Elizabeth Reyes, an outdoor enthusiast and avid sea kayaker who built her own 17-foot long kayak 13 years ago.
Harkness education was integrated with NOLS instruction so that students could participate in open dialogue throughout their outdoor leadership training, reflections on daily progress and so that they could learn how to extend and challenge themselves.
The adventurers learned and lived by a “leave-no-trace” philosophy, which urged them to minimize their environmental impact. For example, they lit their nighttime campfires near high tides so the embers would be washed away from the beach by the next morning. Reyes approved of this lifestyle. “If we continue to keep educating people on how to leave no trace, then we’ll be able to have the outdoors to continue using for years to come,” she said.
Upper Emma Paltrow, who journeyed to California, described her trip as a bonding experience for the Exonian travelers. “Every night after dinner, it was freezing cold, but a solid percent of the group, would huddle together,” she said. “I was with a really good group of people that I wouldn’t have typically spoken to prior to going on the trip.”
Senior Autumn Herness, another NOLS student, appreciated having the opportunity to interact with her peers in a setting outside of the busy school routine. “We talked about stuff we don’t usually have time to talk about at Exeter,” she said. “I really enjoyed having time with them in an environment other than school.”
Paltrow praised Exeter’s management of the NOLS trip. “The school was very good about debriefing us on everything we needed to bring and even provided for us through their storage area,” she said. “The travel was well-organized. I was never scared or worried about logistics.”
Another eight Exonians traveled to Arizona where they got the chance to explore the local geology and ecosystems of the Grand Canyon, as well as observe the canyon’s natural beauty, along with science instructors Townley Chisholm and Albert Leger. While cold weather and snow created difficult conditions for the beginning of the trip, the group came properly equipped with tents and sleeping bags to set up camping grounds outside. They cooked their own meals throughout the trip.
Leger praised the students on the trip for their constant positivity despite the unusually cold weather. He especially enjoyed getting to know the group and giving them the opportunities to explore the extensive geology of the canyon. “As a geologist, the Grand Canyon is the most fantastic geology textbook in the world. It is all there—we have about a 2 billion year history right there in front of us, ready to be read,” he said.
After hiking to the bottom of the Canyon and back up again, the group spent the last few days of the trip in the Navajo Nation: a Native American-governed US territory. The members got the chance to learn the history and lifestyle of a completely different group of Americans as they met different local guides who recited the area’s history orally and told stories of the Anasazi, who settled in the area over a thousand years ago.
Upper Michael Bamah, one of the students of the trip, described visiting the Navajo Nation as a huge highlight of the trip. While he applied for the trip with only knowledge of the hiking part, getting a chance to learn about completely different culture came as a pleasant surprise.
Several students also traveled to the historical sites around Montgomery, Alabama. The trip focussed on American History as it frames current events and social injustices. It was inspired by a desire to seek action following MLK Day.
No matter which trip students want to attend, Paltrow encouraged future Exonian travelers to venture in the expedition opportunities that Exeter provides. “If people are debating whether or not to go on the trip because they are worried about going too far out of their comfort zone, I don’t think that should be a major concern,” she said. “I was terrified before the trip, but now I am more confident in skills that I would have never been willing to explore.”
Reyes also recommended outdoor excursions. “It takes courage to be make that step and apply to go, and students weren’t comfortable at the beginning, but by the end you could tell they really learned things they weren’t going to learn anywhere else,” she recalled.