Reflections on an Eighth Grade Outdoor Adventure

September 12-13 – A time-honored tradition of experiential education at RCS continues.

English teacher and Grades 7/8 Dean Brooks Eleck joined the overnight team building trip that included white water rafting, a high ropes course, s’mores – and an amazing group of eighth graders. Here are her reflections:
 
There is a debriefing activity that our longstanding outdoor experiential company partner, Mountain Workshop, uses in its program called Rose, Bud, Thorn. The purpose of this game is to take one rose, a highlight of your experience, one bud, something you learned in your day, and one thorn, something you hope for next time you can build on or change for the better. To borrow from this game, we can use these proverbial metaphors to summarize our experience on the two day eighth grade trip to Camp Lindenmere in Henryville, Pennsylvania.
 
The Rose:
Coming into the experience of taking a class of eighth graders on a trip like this is not for the faint of heart. Though it is something that I value greatly as a mom, an educator, and a person as a whole, taking so many kids on such an adventurous outdoor experience asks a lot of the staff who bring them. As for the rose of this trip, therefore, I value the students and their willingness to let us – Ms. Machado, Mr. Hart, Mr. Robinson, and me – join their fun and excitement over the last few days. Even the rainy 7:00 a.m. start on Wednesday morning did not deter these youngsters, and for that we are all very grateful. Kudos to this fantastic group of educators for genuinely reveling in the fun of it all as well.
 
The Bud:
Something that we all learned from this trip is that when you create a high bar for RCS kids, they only try to exceed it. From the 3,000 CFS Lehigh River (for the non-river rafting experts, this means the river was high and fast!) extravaganza, to the 30-foot-high ropes dive onto a trapeze, these kids were rock star contributors. And to top it all off, they cheered one another on and even our least likely partnerships fused friendships – a true bud of potential, a Rippowam Cisqua School trademark.
 
The Thorn:
If there is one component of this experience to learn from and to do-better-next-time kind of thing, it would be to do more of this. To listen to more music at top volume; to listen to the crickets outside or the crackling of an outdoor fire; to try something really challenging, fail, and be built back up by an unlikely comrade in crime; to wake up with the sun; to allow ourselves to relax and breathe; to paddle even if we think our strokes don’t count; to dive with faith and trust; to tell our story with pride; and to eat more candy.
 
We feel gratitude for the opportunity to be with this amazing group of young leaders and feel excitement about this year and their years to come.
 
#ripplife

TEXT BY: BROOKS ELECK

PHOTOGRAPHY: ISADORA MACHADO AND BROOKS ELECK
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Rippowam Cisqua School
439 Cantitoe Street 
Bedford, NY 10506
phone: (914) 244-1250
Rippowam Cisqua School is a PreK-Grade 9 independent day school in Westchester County, New York. RCS offers challenging academics built on innovation, fine and performing arts, competitive athletics, wellness, leadership, service learning, and a wide selection of extracurricular activities.
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