AMC Outdoors, July/August 2008

THEIR OWN PRIVATE EVEREST  When Jibrie got her first look at Mount Willard from the Highland Center, she was worried she wouldn’t be able to climb it. She confides, “I thought it was going to be hard. Very, very hard.”

Many schools build a longer hike—such as a climb up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail on Mount Washington, or in the case of Newton North, a trek to the top of Mount Willard— into their A Mountain Classroom program. In addition to providing opportunities to learn concepts such as forest zonation, hiking builds valuable outdoor skills, like map reading. For many stu­dents, it also provides a life-altering accomplishment.

“With the White Mountains surrounding us, there are ‘wow-ies’ all over the place here,” says Andrea Muller, AMC’s North Country youth education director. “And, because we hike in the White Mountain National Forest, kids make the link that this is something they can come here and do on their own, with their families or friends.”

A Mountain Classroom instructors are masters at getting kids to the summit. Frequent rest breaks, complete with rid­dles and other distractions, are the rule of the day. Food—often chocolate, strategically offered just when kids are about out of fuel—usually provides the final jolt they need to scramble up the last half-mile.

In team spirit, the whole group often pitches in to help in­dividual students who struggle to make it to the top—kids like Jibrie. At one point her classmates lined up like a train pushing her uphill. “I called my mom after reaching the summit,” Jibrie says, “I was like, ‘I made it!’”

Teachers often talk about students counting their A Mountain Classroom hike as a highlight of their school experi­ence. “I had a student who was practically in tears of joy after a long bushwhack hike,” says Jerry Burnell, principal of Marsh­wood Great Works Middle School in South Berwick, Maine. Like many of her peers, this particular student was worried she wouldn’t make it. “But she did, and afterwards she said, ‘Mr. B., everyone was so great. They all helped me. We all did it together.’”

“A lot of programs offer kids experiences like climbing walls or ropes courses,” Muller says. “Our mountain climbing experience offers similar challenges and risk-taking opportuni­ties, but is real—it’s not contrived.”

A WARM SAFE PLACE  When students gather after Newton North’s first night, they recount their breakfast. “Bacon, eggs, sausage, French toast, fruit bowl, orange juice,” Jibrie says. Others pipe in, add­ing oatmeal, pancakes, cereal, and hot cocoa, even the occa­sional piece of fruit to the list.

A sometimes-overlooked benefit of A Mountain Class­room is AMC’s meals and facilities. Students from visiting schools routinely report that home-cooked family meals are a rarity. Working parents, hectic sports and social schedules, and after-school jobs all contribute to the decline.

Both students and teachers value AMC’s family-style meals, even with all of the “pleases” and “thank yous.” In fact Burnell is so convinced of their value, at the suggestion of his A Mountain Classroom “graduates,” his school now serves lunch family-style once or twice a month. He laughs at how quickly the food goes from platter to students’ plates, but also notes how meals provide important lessons. “It’s great to see how stu­dents watch out for each other to make sure everyone gets enough food.”

Access to gear is a big plus of AMC’s frontcountry lodges. New­ton North teacher Hazeltine says, “The fact that our kids don’t need much in the way of gear is huge. Without the available gear, that would be a show-stopper.”

Another key element, particu­larly for students from an urban setting, is that they can be close to nature in facilities that have many of the comforts of home. “For a lot of the kids here, because nature is so new to them, initially they might not view it as a positive experience—because new things can be scary,” says Colleen Meigher, a school psychologist for New­ton North. “So this is an incredible time for them to both be exposed and have it be safe, in a really structured, nurturing way.”

NORTH COUNTRY OUTREACH  Instructor Weston has an unusual relay race in store for elementary school children from Lancaster, N.H. After learn­ing the importance of dressing in layers for the outdoors, 14 second-graders are split into two teams with the challenge of dressing into a full set of winter clothes, mittens and hat in­cluded, running across the room and back, then passing them on to the next kid in line.

As children carom across the carpet in slippery snow pants, third grade teacher David Houle explains that the fun is all part of Lancaster Elementary School’s Iditarod Day—a program that integrates classroom and outdoor activities with learning about the famous dogsled race. The program is designed to help stu­dents learn about geography, math, and animals, in addition to outdoor skills.

Located 160 miles north of Boston, Lancaster is one of a number of communities AMC has collaborated with through its North Country Youth Outreach program called Communi­ty Partnerships for Youth. AMC has a long history of involve­ment in northern New Hampshire and neighboring Maine and Vermont communities. Past efforts have included staffing com­munity activities, such as the Wildcat Mountain’s fishing derby and participating in special programs at local schools.

In 2007, AMC received a $40,000 grant from the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation to expand its educational programming and out­door experiences in Coos County, N.H. Grant money has al­lowed AMC to offer day programs to area schools “north of the notches” for no cost and overnight trips at a significant discount.

“We’re now able to reach out to new communities and we’re doing more after-school and school vacation programs, like the winter skills work we’re doing with the North Coun­try Boys and Girls Club,” says Emily Mitchell, coordinator for North Country Youth Outreach. “Also, AMC is now making gear, like snowshoes, backpacks, and sleeping pads, available to area schools and scouting groups.”

Dave Backler, principal of the elementary school in Milan, N.H., says AMC’s expanded focus in the North Country has allowed him to do more to integrate the school’s A Mountain Classroom experience. “We’ve been working with AMC to help us develop a whole new science program—one that integrates with New Hampshire’s new science framework. With AMC’s support, we are able to offer an overnight trip to Pinkham Notch—and Emily (Mitchell) has been coming to our different classrooms here in the school. Neither of these would be pos­sible without their North Country Youth Outreach effort.”

Through the hikes and the games, the instructors, and the lodges, the magic of A Mountain Classroom is in the children, like the sixth-graders who recently waded around Pinkham’s Cutler Stream in too-big rubber boots, dip nets in hand, look­ing for stream life. As Backler will attest, “One day out in the field, actually catching and identifying critters in the stream, is worth a week of classroom experience trying to teach the same principles.”

Peter Bergh is a freelance writer and part-time instructor for AMountain Class­room. He lives in New Castle, N.H.


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