Overnight at Huddart Park

Trafton B.

July 23, 2010 - 5:46 PM

Once again Aim High served up a little magic with the 9th Grade camping overnight at Huddart Park in Woodside, California.

Yesterday morning began like any other with a morning circle amongst the entire Aim High community, but instead of heading off to our first period classes the 9th Graders and I met up with the four Aim High - Headlands Environmental Home (AH-HEH) staff members -- Elizabeth, Marcus, Marizol and Darrius -- to prepare for our adventure. We started with a quick team building exercise, which became the first of many times we'd entertain ourselves with a hacky-sack, and then headed out to the bus.

Thursday morning's agenda included a morning hike looking at native California flora like bracken fern, bay tree, madrone and, of course, redwood trees. For part of the hike each of us spent time alone on a "solo." During these 30-40 minutes each student was asked to find a space along the trail away from their friends where they could enjoy the solitude of nature. Living in crowded cities, there's rarely a time that we don't hear something or someone buzzing and honking near us. If there's one thing I appreciate most about the great outdoors it is the soothing serenity of soundlessness. Needless to say I also spent time soloing.

After reaching our campsite for the evening, we recharged with sandwiches and a few spontaneous games of hacky-sack. Our afternoon began with story time about the native Ohlone Tribe of Central Caifornia and how they made baskets from tulee reeds and used them for everything from clothing to cradles to cooking pots. Then we walked two hundred feet and found one of those native Ohlone tribesmen that would show us how to make such baskets.
All right, he wasn't a true Ohlone tribesman but he has studied with them for thirty years. Charlie was his name and he showed us his amazing baskets as well as a pair of shoes, mats and water canteens that he'd made over the years. He even showed us pictures of a canoe that he made a few years ago. A weaved canoe! Can you believe that?!?

The students spent the next two hours weaving their own baskets, which I am pleased to say were amazingly well crafted. After watching for twenty minutes I couldn't help but want to try myself and....well... let's just say I don't have a future in basket weaving. Looking down at my own easily forgettable effort I was only more impressed with our students' baskets. A few students were able to make two awesome baskets in the time that I was able to make a single mediocre one.

The evening gave way to more hacky-sack, another round of "solos," dinner time burritos, and finally an evening circle around our faux fire. We weren't allowed to have a real campfire due to high fire warnings, so instead the kids grabbed some sticks and built a miniature log cabin around a large lantern. We had a few more laughs, and a group howl at the moon.

This morning we all woke up to the tune of Marizol serenading us with a Spanish melody. The three members in the staff tent were slightly groggy because sleeping on the rockhard ground next to nine snoring teenagers doesn't make for the best sleeping environment. The chorus of fake fart noises lasting until 2am didn't help either. There were two things I learned from last night. Boys will be boys, and a cup of coffee in the morning can fix just about anything.

We explored Huddart Park one last time after breakfast where we saw a deer, a Northern Herrier, a rattle snake (dead....don't worry), a fuzzy caterpillar, a monstrous banana slug with its pint sized baby slug, and finally a lizard sun bathing on some rocks. A few students stayed behind for a more relaxing activity of making Andy Goldsworthy-esque landscape art. My group made it back in time to see their heart-shaped artwork made from leaves, pines cones and twigs before we headed back to the main field to hop on the bus and head back to school.

Before we headed out we had one last closing circle where the entire group shared a few thoughts about how they felt and what they will take away from the trip. We set a few rules before going around the circle, one of which was confidentiality, so I won't betray my students' trust. All I will say is that everyone in the circle had something nice to say and every student left Huddart Park this afternoon with a big smile on their face.