Head of School's Message: September 19

On a plaque by the visitor center in Yosemite Village is a quote from Ansel Adams, “Yosemite Valley to me is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.” That was in 1948. The national park had an international feel last week. 

 

Many were staying in the same Housekeeping Camp where the eighth grade stayed and most lit wood fires in the evening filling the camp next to the Merced River with smoke that partially obscured the glitter of green and gold and lingered into the morning.

 

As a wilderness experience, the trip was lacking, but as a time to bond before the serious academic work begins, the visit to Yosemite was a great success for most, but not all. Eighth Grade Math Teacher Missy Griffin broke her leg on Wednesday after sliding down a rock face. The medical clinic in Yosemite x-rayed and booted her injury, and she was transported back to Pasadena. She sees an orthopedic doctor today. Missy was in good spirits when I spoke to her on Saturday. That was the only injury we suffered. Over dinner, on Tuesday evening we talked about how there had not been any broken bones on a Chandler outdoor education trip for twenty years!

 

After a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus, we are building back Chandler’s outdoor education program led by Pete Carlson, Chandler’s Director of Outdoor Education. Following a forty-year relationship with the Boojum Institute in which trips to Joshua Tree, the Colorado River and the Sierras rolled over from one year to the next, Chandler is now working with Positive Adventures. Up until recently, Boojum had closed all operations due to the pandemic. For this year, Positive Adventures are our outdoor education partners.

 

One of the purposes of outdoor education is to get students away from screens, phones and other electronic distractions. Another is to build their skills of self-reliance and group membership as they hike together, spend time in a natural setting and learn to be stewards of the environment. Finally, we believe it is good for the students to get out of their comfort zones and deal with discomfort helped by their classmates and by their teachers.

 

In separate groups, students hiked to Nevada Falls, played games on the beaches alongside the Merced River, clambered on rocks, and once the smoke cleared, gazed in awe at El Capitan and Half Dome. Evening programming included games and astronomy talks. The program concluded on Thursday night with each group performing a skit focused on Yosemite. Each was hilarious and creative, the results of lengthy student discussion and collaboration. Throughout the trip Chandler Eighth Graders were magnificent. Several people we passed on the way down from Nevada Falls, and there were many of them, commented on how polite they were.

 

One of Coach John Wooden’s famous dictums, “If they haven’t learned, you haven’t taught,” rings true in outdoor education. A feature of our relationship with Boojum starting each year in 6th Grade was a dedicated focus on outdoor ethics based on the seven principles of Leave no Trace.

 

 

The principles became a mantra for previous classes. Memorizing them and more importantly acting on them are sources of pride for our alumni. Because of the pandemic, and the lack of outdoor education experiences, our current middle school classes have had no grounding in Leave no Trace. With the help of our faculty chaperones working with Positive Adventures staff, Chandler students have some catching up to do to reach the outdoor skill levels of their predecessors. Meeting that ethical objective is for the next trip and for future planning.

 

Last week it was great fun being in Yosemite with the eighth-grade class as Chandler’s outdoor education program continues its comeback.