ODS: A Drug for the soul (2nd Reflection)

First, let me apologize for getting this out late. I had anticipated getting an email out every weekend about my Outdoor School Experience. Unfortunately, I was rather sick this weekend and used most of my time to rest. Apparently, this experience comes with a minor amount of sleep deprivation, which in turn can have adverse effects on the health. Oh well, the adverse effects on physical health are worth the positive effects on mental health.

***Positive effects? let me elaborate.

Every day the Program Leaders (PLs) meet with the Student Leaders (SLs), to discuss how things are going, what is on the agenda for the next day, and spend a bit of time getting to know one another without the 6th graders around. The last night we do a "Candle Pass" ceremony where we pass a candle and briefly share gratitude, memories, thoughts etc. on our experience over the week. In this often emotional time, I said that the ODS program is having a greater impact on me than the trail did for me. Later in the evening, a PL asked me to elaborate what exactly I meant.

Feeling that this was an adequate question to ponder, I thought that I might share what I meant to those who have followed me on my hike.

I went out with a dream to hike from Mexico to Canada, but quickly realized that the accomplishment was in being out there chasing/achieving a dream and learning a lot about myself along the way. Financial considerations pulled me away from the trail, but "The Trail" has always had its way with the hiker, and not the other way around. I believe that my decisions and "The Trail" sent me to a position where I would have the opportunity to find this job, I found the job, and now I am applying what "The Trail" has taught me to my living and my decisions.

When I left for the hike, I was leaving behind a rather bitter/cynical lifestyle that was wearing on my spirits. I needed something positive, and that positive came from the hike. Given endless hours of solitude, I had time to think. Time, which few actually have. Time, which those who vacation understand. I, however, unlike the usual vacationer, had nearly four months of time to think.

The trail gave me time to learn how to be introspective, examine my flaws, find my strengths and weaknesses, learn how to be positive in tough situations, accept what is given to me as a gift (be it now or later), among many other wonderful experiences. This, however, was related to my life on the trail.

***Theory and Application

In saying that the ODS program is having a greater impact on me than the trail is a little hard to understand. Yet I feel that "The Trail" taught me theory, and ODS is giving me application. I am able to use the introspection as a way of understanding how to be a better leader, and better role model, and a better mentor to those who are out here, and eventually those I surround myself with. It is as if the trail built a foundation upon which a solid house could be built. ODS is giving me timber to frame a house, and my fellow staffers are giving me the tools to build the house. To push the analogy to its limits, each staff member is contributing a different tool for me, for one cannot build a house with just a hammer. And I, I am putting in the work to build the house. Hopefully the house will last longer than I do.

***A Few Moments

I stood outside looking up at a double rainbow. I have seen, as many have, rainbows, sunbows, and moonbows. The rain came down early in the morning and as the rain cleared the rainbow refracted light into its spectrum of red, orange, yellow, green and blue. The 6th graders had already boarded their busses to head home, and we (the staff) were left with the SLs to close up the site for the weekend. A moment opened up between duties, where I took in a breath and looked out at the damp, rain flecked field. Quickly those around saw the arching rainbow. Higher than the usual rainbow, this one was more than 180 degrees. Faintly outside of the rainbow existed a second rainbow, a rarity in my book. This second rainbow was faint, but as rich in color as most the rainbows I typically see, which means that the inner rainbow was much more saturated in color. While I have always admired rainbows, these two seemed to be slightly different for me, and I enjoyed being able to share it for one fleeting moment with some of the staff and SLs. I then returned to work. A moment for us.

***

I stood outside looking down the trail. It was one of those moments where time seems to have stopped, where I was given the opportunity to stop and admire the environment that I am in. "Cherokee," our Site Supervisor, always tells the students to take a moment and admire the environment we are in. This was one of those moments. During morning field study, the mid morning sunlight was shining down the trail, casting a long shadow on the trail where I stood. I looked up into the trees and saw roughly fifty spider webs, all hosting large lazy spiders, lounging in the sun. Being out of the way of the walking students, these spider webs had the privilege of being enormous, for they never were torn by passerbys. I stood in the golden shadows looking up at all the spiders comfortably nested in the hearth of their webs, then decided I wanted to share the moment with someone. As I wandered the Field Study Area to find "Snag" my FI, I made my way back to the same spot a few minutes later. I looked up. The suns position had moved and almost all of the spiderwebs had disappeared. A moment for me.

***

Jesse was a student I had on field study the final day of Week 3. Picture a small freckled superball with arms and legs. He was a delight, because he always had alot of energy. Perhaps too much at times. During field study he grabbed a small handful of the light green stringy lichen and stretched it out over his chin.

"Who am I?" he eagerly asked me in passing. I guessed Abraham Lincoln. Giggeling he said, "No, I am you Moose."

Trying to play the teacher, I accepted the humor in stride, but asked to take the lichen from him, so that he may focus better on the field study. Kindly he handed it over. Thirty seconds later, I turned my back. As soon as I started walking away, I peered over my shoulder to look back at him. He was pulling a deep green, damp moss from a nearby branch. He saw that I noticed him, so he quickly hid the moss. Where, you ask. He shoved it quickly into his mouth to hide all evidence. I asked him how he was doing, to which he quickly spat the moss out of his mouth. He had greet specks of moss, small clumps of dirt and bark falling gracefully out of his mouth. Delightfully humerous sight to see.

***

At the end of Week 3, we were doing our "Candle Pass." One of the SLs commented on how much he enjoyed his first week of Outdoor School as a student leader. He said that in a matter of one week, he received more compliments than he typically does in two months time. Striking a chord within me, I realized that is one of the reasons that I love ODS so much, the overwhelming sense of positivity.

***

Caitlan, a young sixth grade student and I were walking back to lunch after field study with her class. She and I were taking the time to talk. In a matter of a few seconds I learned that she really wanted to learn Japanese. As we walked back we talked about learning a new language, the benefits and challenges, and how she could go about getting japanese lessons. I told her about Japanese emersion schools and other options.

After talking for about five minutes about japanese, she looked up at me and asked, "You want to know something weird?"

Interested in hearing what else she wanted to say about japanese I said, "yes."

To which she promptly replied, "Sometimes I run until my legs are tired."

Its funny how the brain works differently in sixth grade.


***

The thought I dwealt on over Week #3

"I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

--Sir Isaac Newton

At the "Candle Pass" at the end of week three, I shared this quote with the SLs and PLs, followed by an explanation of what it means to me. Newton was a brilliant man. He explained the basic laws of physics, invented calculas, and even though he knew a great deal of science, he still felt like a little boy with and ocean of knowledge to be explored. This is like the sixth grader learning new facts, the high schooler learning how to share those facts, and the PLs and FIs learning how to teach. I am in an environment of continual positivity and sharing of knowledge. I am given the role of a "wise man" put at camp to be a mentor to the high schoolers, but in all reality the exchange goes both ways and everyday I am learning something new from the high schoolers, and fellow staff members.

If we open our eyes, is everyone able to be in a learning environment, I suspect so. I, however, do not have to search for the knowledge, it is given to me on an hourly basis. This is one of the reasons I love where I am, and what I am doing.

Happy Trails, Inner Peace, & Harmony

ODS: A Drug for the soul

As many of you are aware, I have left the trail. I hiked roughly 1100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail before running out of money. In an attempt to find temporary work I stumbled accross a job as a Program Leader at Outdoor School for the Multnomah Education Service District. In this job I am offered the opportunity to work with other outdoor enthusiasts. Not ready to leave the trail, but realizing that I must, I felt that this was the perfect job for my interests. I would be offered an easing back into "society." I would be able to stay in the outdoors, be around those who love the outdoors, and try my hand at teaching. My history with Outdoor School goes back to the 5th grade when I went for the first time. Leaving Salem, OR and moving to Pendleton, OR, I was able to attend Outdoor School a second time in the 6th grade. Then in high school I went up three times as a high school counselor to the 6th graders attending the program.

Then off I went to college to pursue my career in Architecture. Events happened that sent me on a hike. This hike allowed endless hours of introspection of what I wanted for myself in the future. One idea I set out to understand was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I struggled with the idea of doing Architecture till the winters of my life, and had been contemplating the prospect of teaching. I tutored Mathematics all through college, finding myself enjoying the spark in my students eyes as they had that moment of epiphany when a concept suddenly made sense. While Architecture fed my creative side, teaching touched me in a totally different way. Naturally on the hike, I debated for many hours whether I wanted to have architecture as a hobby, and do teaching as a job. So when this opportunity arose to go out into the woods and teach kids about our natural environment, I was excited. But never in a thousand years would I have expected the experience to be so emotionally rewarding.

The program is a drug for the soul, and I have this feeling that I might be returning several times. So then, let me explain. I am a Program Leader at Milk Creek, part of Camp Adams, outside Molalla, OR. I work with 5 other Program Leaders, 4 Field Instructors, a Nurse, and a Site Supervisor. The 12 of us work at the camp over a period of 6 weeks, taking a different group of four 6th grade classes through the program every week. What makes the program a drug for the soul? This is a hard concept to explain to those not there, but I will try my best. First and foremost, I have been blessed with an amazing staff to work with. We all came out for similar reasons; a desire to teach, a desire to be outdoors, a love of the program, etc. Yet, we all are completely different, each bringing a special element to the experience we provide for the 6th graders and the high school student leaders.

My job consists of being an assistant teacher with a Field Instructor, being a personal mentor to high school students, and being support for the camp and its staff. We are an "intentional community" built to provide students with an experience that they might never have been able to have without the Outdoor School Program. In the first week we held workshops and set up the site to cater to the following six weeks of students. Before the first student ever arrived, I realized how well thought the program is, and how it is designed to help all those who go through it. I can not fully describe the effects emotionally it has on me, but I can share snippets of the week that might capture why I am addicted to this drug for the soul. The first week I acted as a Student Leader as well as a Program Leader. This means that we where shy one male high schooler, so I filled that role by having a cabin of 10 boys to myself. I made sure the kids were up on time and to various places on time. As the lessons ended for the day we had a campfire, where all the students came together and did skits and songs before heading off to bed. As I took my students away at the end of the night, we all paused at the field and pointed our eyes upward to the skies. Each night, I pointed out the constellations in the sky, sharing a story of the constellation if I knew one. Then we would return to the cabin, where I put them to bed. After all the boys were in bed I told them a story or recited a poem. After the story, I circulated the bunks giving a personal goodnight to each student. I asked them about there day, told them what was in store for the next day, and all around acted as loving parent saying goodnight. On the last night, the clouds covered the stars, so instead I told them of a story about how stars are formed (or at least what I believed when I was real young).

One student asked me where I lived. Since I don't really live anywhere right now except at camp, I told him that I lived at camp. "Wow, you must be the luckiest guy alive," he replied. In a sense there is more truth to that statement for me than I would probably admit. I have been blessed with a job that allows me to teach what I love, our natural environment. I have been blessed with amazing coworkers, with whom I have already bonded closely with. Each bringing a different element to the team, I am surrounded by a group as closely knit as those that I have hiked with. My mornings sing with the first step at the flag raising. My afternoons are sparked by a dual mentorship from other staff members, each providing me with a different element for personal growth as a staff member, and as a human being. My evenings glow with way we come together and share stories. My Field Study is Soil, so I am an assistant teacher to "Snag," on topics such as erosion, weathering, geology, earth morphology, soil pH, and all things related to the soil. I know the difference between dirt and soil. I am given the opportunity to take my knowledge and be a mentor to high school students, teaching the students how to be role models, leaders, and teachers. Over my first week I worked closely with five high schoolers. As I taught the five of them, each in turn contributed to my own personal growth and understanding of myself. By the end of the week I had grown close to my students, both 6th graders and high schoolers, and felt a pain to see them go. During the final ceremonies, I could feel emotions welling up inside of me, emotions that had been all but vacant in me over the last couple years.

The final ceremony of the week is a tree planting, where the four best students of the week are selected to plant a tree with soil that each student brought with them from a "special place." Two boys from my cabin received this honor. As we all formed in a semi-circle around the 4 students, 4 Field Instructors, and the Site Supervisor, I kneeled in the rain listening to one of my students say to everyone how the best part of outdoor school was his cabin leader, me. Wow, the week was filled with all sorts of fun, many great elements, and what he remembers was me. What an honor to hear him proudly announce that to one hundred plus people. I was thankful of the rain, for it hid the tears in my eyes. It is hard to capture what the camp does for people in words, but I think that simply stating that it is a drug for the soul, paints a picture that many can understand and relate to. I hope to write a journal entry every week about my experiences and share it with you all.


Happy Trails, Inner Peace, & Harmony