What a joy it was to spend a week chaperoning Friends School of Minnesota 7th and 8th graders at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center! Getting to know each other so well provides us a solid foundation for the whole school year.
We spent the week taking classes (animal signs, orienteering, ropes course, rock climbing, wetlands, and lake study) and doing lots of other activities (capture the flag in the woods, the astronomy tower, night hike (27 kids!), sunrise hike (25 kids!), team building activities with dorm groups, singing along with Shane on his guitar, nail painting, and henna tattoos by some of the 7/8 girls on practically everyone, and s’mores by the campfire). We also went to a family farm and learned about sustainable farming. The kids did some service work of digging up a field and then they played whiffle ball.
Lake Study class: students put on boots and waded into the lake to find out oxygen level, pH, and to identify snails, crayfish, leaches, and more!
Orienteering: Using a compass and map students found markers spread out over a big area. We learned how hard it is to walk in a straight line through the woods!
Wetlands Study: more boot work! Students walked through bogs, fens, and swamps! And we all benefited from mud/clay masks.
Round River Farm: our last morning we visited the farm of the Abasz family (Quaker friends!). The students saw how this family lives “off the grid” in line with their desire to not hurt people, animals or the earth by their lifestyle. We helped dig some fields, walked the labyrinth, and played whiffle ball.
See also 7th and 8th Grade Wolf Ridge Week 2013, Day 1 & 2
– Lili Herbert, Head of School
It was a pure pleasure for me to accompany the 7th & 8th graders to Wolf Ridge. As a parent of a 7th grader, I am often “discouraged” from going to the 2nd floor of the building. So, I don’t often get a chance to experience the camaraderie between students at Friends. In both large and small group gatherings, I was struck by how students encourage, support and check on each other. The very high ropes course is, in part, designed to challenge students and have other group members support them. But, there were many other times I saw students helping each other. They helped each other cross the river at Tettegouche, waited for each other when someone was hiking slower or was slogged down in the “sticky” mud. There were tears and hugs of support when students were acutely feeling the loss of Alex. And there was a great deal of laughter among students and teachers. The 7th and 8th graders are remarkable people and I feel lucky that I got a chance to know them and participate in this trip. Sarah Bauer