| 479 | One Excited Teacher | 2011-09-20 |
I dropped my wife, Amy, off at school this morning at 0630. There was definitely a buzz in the air. Children were pushing, pulling, and carrying large duffles toward the two large travel buses. A total of eighty students, Amy, and the other teachers were preparing to board the buses. The fun and excitement was overflowing the sidewalks into the surrounding areas. The students were leaving Nashville on a four day trip!
As I drove away the teachers were busy corralling children and packing luggage in the huge bombay compartments under the buses.
With everyone present, they will board the buses and begin the six hour trip to Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, NC. The ride alone will have to be quite an experience for the students (and probably for the bus drivers and the teachers too!)
On reaching their destination, the students will be off loaded from the buses to a field and the waiting guidance of the Adventure Trek Staff (the outdoor experience company that runs the trip). The students will be divided into small groups and taken to different adventures throughout the forest. They will hike, camp, cook, sleep, eat, rock climb, raft, backpack, slide and swim in a natural pool, and live in the woods for four days. It will be quite the experience for the students and the teachers.
Amy was so excited about the trip that it was fun watching her prepare. I could not imagine any of the students being more excited than she was and she has been on the trip each year for the past fifteen years. Her excitement might stem from getting away from Jake, the dog, and me; but it is mainly from her love of the students and her teaching profession. She loves to see the students having fun and learning about their outdoor experiences.
She will return Friday, exhausted; but looking forward to next year. The sixth graders will be transformed. They left Nashville as individual students; but will return as a class. They will have bonded to each other and to their teachers because of the shared outdoor experiences.
Happy excited students and teacher trails
... and that's what it is all about!
Note:
Amy packed her backpack with her primary gear - tent, sleeping bag, pad, cooking gear, and clothes before leaving home. It weighed only 13 pounds! If she had been hiking with me, we would have shared the weight of the tent, sleeping bag, and cooking gear and the pack would have only weighed around 10 pounds.