Outdoor Education Program

In Fall Term 2011, Outdoor Education focused on hiking and whitewater
canoeing. The group started the term with five new students and four
returning students who helped the newcomers learn basic paddling
skills and prepare for our adventures on area rivers and trails. The
group learned to be attentive to personal preparation for outings and
to work together to ready equipment for hikes and river trips. As the
group learned the necessary paddling strokes and gained river reading
experience, it took on increasingly challenging runs on the Bantam,
Housatonic, Farmington, and Shepaug rivers. Hikes often took them
uphill on area peaks, and the group averaged two to three miles each
outing. All members of the group improved personal fitness, developed
important outdoor skills, learned to work and have fun together, and
experienced the satisfaction of surmounting challenges in the
outdoors.

Given the snowy season last year, there were high hopes for the
continuation of the cross-country ski program during the 2011-2012 Winter Season
in Outdoor Education. However, with very little snow, the group
gained significant experience instead with the hiking trails in the area.
Embarking on hikes of up to four miles each day, the group traveled to
various areas around northwest Connecticut to experience a variety of
landscapes--from the trails and boardwalks of the many local land trusts,
to several fire towers in the area and the site of a Civil War era iron
mill in Roxbury, CT. Getting exercise, exploring the local landscape, and
developing a group decision-making and improving group dynamic were
focuses for Outdoor Challenge throughout the term.

Outdoor Education had a successful 2012  Spring Term, for the first time participating
in multiple races. The group had fun navigating the Wappingerʼs
Creek River Derby, and on routine paddles on Bantam River in White
Woods and on Longmeadow Pond and Bantam Lake. Outdoor Ed also
enjoyed hikes in the area around the school, especially in White Woods.
We are sure Mr. Craig is proud of the group with its success in the races,
during his last term coaching Outdoor Education.