Academics

Grade 9 Chewonki Trip/September 2007

Journal entry dates: 9/17/07-9/21/07 by Joan Regan

Place: St.Croix River, international boundary between Canada and United States

Weather: spectacular

 A couple of cold nights, two separate mouse attacks, and pesky camp squirrels posed the really daunting challenges to the ninth team during their journey down the river. Although the students were raw beginners to the skills and demands of canoeing, they learned to ride out standing wave trains, to eddy up out of the current, and to read the river by recognizing dark v's in the current of the water. To safely avoid both obvious and hidden rocks/boulders, strainers, and gravel bars while moving in class one white water in boats heavy with equipment, they executed j stroke, draw, cross draw, and c stroke off both sides of the boat from both bow and stern with different partners every day. All of this description is nothing without the roar of the rapids in your ears.

Wilderness camping is not a weekend at the Ramada. As campers, the students learned to build and maintain cooking fires, prepare and cook meals, clean cooking pots, and pitch tents for themselves. There were no dishwashers with a heavy scrub cycle, no convenience stores for a quick Red Bull, and no alternative to the wet shoes in the morning except to put them on.  The kids not only cheerfully dealt with the duffing, the outs, portaging, and vegetables, but also sought out the challenge of sleeping outside with no tent, paddling over Little Falls, and gunnel pumping.  What a wonderful group! So many firsts.  First visit to Canada, first birthday on a river, first day without a shower, first night in a tent, first battle with homesickness, first time in a canoe, first skipped stone.  In some sense first picnic.  We learned on the banks of the river before launching our trip that the practice of deliberately going on a picnic has largely faded away.  The Ninth Grade went on a fantastic picnic.  We had glorious stars at night, river fog in the mornings, azure blue skies during the day, and dazzling red maples sprinkled among the spruce and fir. Once again the kids have set off not really knowing what they were getting themselves into and coming back so wonderfully proud of themselves.

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