Celebrating40Years in the Outdoor Classroom - The Chewonki ...

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The Outdoor Classroom A unique and popular program is more relevant today than ever Chewonki celebrates a significant milestone this year: our fortieth year of teaching in the Outdoor Classroom. We welcomed our first overnight school group in the fall of 1971, when former executive director Tim Ellis arranged for the entire eighth grade from Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts, to spend 10 days camping on Chewonki Neck. It was a natural partnership. Chewonki founder Clarence Allen was a former headmaster at Rivers; Hardy Ellis was assistant camp director at Chewonki and for many years assistant headmaster at Rivers; Roger Tory Peterson taught art 8 / Chewonki Chronicle ELIZABETH PIERSON at Rivers and nature at Camp Chewonki; and Tim himself was a Rivers alumnus. “That first program was a challenge program with little natural history,” Tim recalled recently. “But we were learning, and over the years inserted more of a balance between natural history and challenge. We learned a lot about the valuable place that experiential learning and the development of character and community can and should have in formal curricula, and we continued to build on it.” Former Chewonki president Don Hudson, still a college student then, was on the small staff that led the Rivers encampment, and he remembers it well. “The essential pieces of JOCK MONTGOMERY
“For too long, we somehow forgot that some of the most important learning happens outside of these brick buildings called schools” William Shuttleworth, superintendant of Maine Regional School Unit 1 today’s Outdoor Classroom were assembled in those 10 days,” he says. Forty students were divided into four groups, and for each group there was a Chewonki teacher and a Rivers teacher. Together, they camped in tents and cooked their meals outdoors, explored with map and compass, crossed the Gulch, and canoed in the salt marsh. “The schedule was pretty loose,” Don recalls. “This was one time when we were making it up as we went along!” What Chewonki was “making up” in 1971 has endured the test of time. Our Outdoor Classroom (originally called Environmental Education) now serves more than 2,000 students a year in programs that range in length from one to seven days and that incorporate lessons in ecology, sustainability, teambuilding, and outdoor living. A highly trained staff that numbers more than 20 offers day programs, overnight encampments, and wilderness trips—all of them customdesigned to meet a school’s own interests and curricula. For all its growth, the Outdoor Classroom remains remarkably unchanged in spirit. This June, 40 Rivers students once again set up tents and cooked outdoors on Chewonki Neck. It was the entire seventh grade, and though they stayed only 3 nights instead of 10, their trip looked remarkably like the one in 1971. These kids also crossed the Gulch, canoed in the salt marsh, and explored with map and compass. Their eyes grew wide when they learned their trip marked the fortieth year Rivers has come to Chewonki—longer than any other school. “That’s so cool!” they said in chorus. These kids can also tell you why the program is valuable. “At Chewonki you’re away from technology. You don’t see media, and that’s good,” said one of the students. “I like that you rely on each other. It’s a good way to see how teamwork works,” said another. And from another: “I’ve always wanted to camp in a tent and cook over a fire. Here I get to do it!” Rivers School students setting up camp on their first visit to Chewonki, in the fall of 1971. Their 40th trip, this past May, looked remarkably similar. Outdoor Classroom director Katie Tremblay has been at Chewonki since 2001 and has watched with satisfaction as the program has grown in size and scope. “This year alone we’ll serve 62 schools, including 3 collages,” she said recently. Most come from Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, a few from as far away as Pennsylvania and North Carolina. For many, their visit is an annual event and is much anticipated by students and teachers alike. Julie Raines teaches AP biology at Yarmouth High School in Maine and has been bringing students to Chewonki for 27 years. “Chewonki has been a great place for my classes to compare a variety of ecosystems, practice field techniques, and learn more about animals and preserved specimens,” she said this fall. “In preparing for the AP exam we’re able to review all of their coursework, do lab work, and enrich their understanding, making lots of connections. Add in the terrific teaching approach of the Chewonki teachers, the flexibility of the program to meet my learning objectives, and it has been a perfect program for us.” The program’s popularity and growth have not come without challenges, however, especially in the past few years. Declining enrollment may well be at the top of the list, but it is not the only challenge. There’s a trend toward more schools coming to Chewonki for fewer days with fewer students, Katie explains. Interestingly, budget cuts are not the only reason. “The culture of what kids can do has really changed,” she says. Standardized testing limits the number of days students can be away from the classroom, and many kids can’t miss mandatory sports practice. Katie also notes that parents seem more protective and less willing to let their children venture outside their comfort levels. “A four-day trip for a fifth-grader is a much bigger deal with parents than it used to be,” she says. The result of these shorter stays is a decline in enrollment but an increase in administrative work. Continued on page 10 Visit our website at www.chewonki.org / 9 CHEWONKI ARCHIVES
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