By Mary Beth Moyer
St. Joseph’s School

My classmates and I, along with our chaperones – Miss Patricia Milton and Mr. Errol Parker, – recently returned from Nature’s Classroom in Freedom, NH. It has been the traditional eighth-grade class trip for many years and is always one of the highlights of students’ last year at St. Joseph’s School. This five-day trip was very educational and a great chance to become closer as a class.

While at Nature’s Classroom, we participated in field group, classes and evening activities. Field group consisted of a couple of students from our own class as well as students from the other two schools there for this experience. Classes were normally about science, but some were about people and social issues. Our evening activities were always different. One night, we participated in a simulation of the Underground Railroad, another evening all of the field groups participated in “Thursday Night Live.” A third night we went on Night Hike, which involved experiments done in the dark.

We got to choose what classes we went to. Classes covered every- thing from dissecting fruit to examining how two different cultures interact. Another class was Professor X. This class examined how people with disabilities deal with everyday things such as peeling an orange, pouring a glass of water, or playing duck, duck, goose. We had one or two classes each day.

Field group was a time for team building. We went on hikes, played games, and worked together with our field group leader. Some of the team building activities included making a human table and attempting to cross a ‘river’ without touching the ground using wooden boards.

Another activity that we did regularly was entertainment. Entertainment occurred after each meal. It was normally a song or dance that the wonderful Nature’s Classroom Staff taught us.

We left Nature’s Classroom with more than memories of one of the best weeks of our lives. We left with new friends, more acceptance of people different from ourselves, and stronger friendships within our class. Even though we are back at school and no longer at Nature’s Classroom, the memories and friendships created that week will never leave us.