REACHING THE SUMMIT

Rising seniors find themselves in the outdoors thanks to the vision and passion of a generous alumnus.

In 2008, alumnus and EHS Trustee Emeritus John Townsend ’73 established the Diamond Acre trip, a three-week excursion throughout the west for 12 to 14 emerging student leaders. Townsend, a lifelong outdoor enthusiast, and his family have found solace in Grand Teton National Park in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for over 30 years, and he hoped that, in establishing the trip, he could encourage the next generation of High Schoolers to embrace the great outdoors as well.

Through his gift to Courage: The Campaign for Episcopal, Townsend has committed to endow the trip in perpetuity, renaming it the Double Diamond Expedition and making it accessible for students for generations to come. The trip is named after the origins of Townsend’s family ranch in Grand Teton National Park, which is nestled at the foot of the Grand Teton and remains one of the only private properties within the publicly owned land. Townsend himself has been hiking, climbing, and skiing in the park for three decades, and he and his wife Marree now spend roughly 70 to 80 days a year at their beloved Wyoming property.

“When our property was established 101 years ago, it was named the Double Diamond Ranch and its purpose was for young men exclusively

from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to come out and spend the summer getting a true western experience, much as our young people do today with Wilderness Ventures,” Townsend explained. “The owner of the Double Diamond eventually sold most of the property to the Rockefeller entity that was buying up the land that is now Grand Teton National Park. He kept a small parcel for himself “It gave me so much confidence that I can do anything if I put my mind to something and I have the support of people around me.” —ERIN PHILLIPS ’18 along with some cabins, which is what we own today. So the Double Diamond has real educational significance and in many ways was the precursor to what we are doing today.” The three-and-a-half-week expedition is run by Wilderness Ventures, an organization that has led outdoor excursions for teenagers since 1973. Townsend, who started mountaineering as an adult, selected Wilderness Ventures to design and lead the trip based on their outstanding reputation. The

trip includes hiking and camping in Montana and Wyoming; whitewater rafting on the Salmon River in Idaho; and climbing the Grand Teton in Wyoming. Exum Mountain Guides, the oldest guide service in the U.S., leads the climb of The Grand.

When Townsend began financing the trip, he never envisioned participating with the students. But that first year, he found himself summiting The Grand alongside the rising seniors, seeing for himself just how transformative an experience like that could be on a young student. “I would get up there with these young people and they would literally change in front of my eyes,” Townsend recounted. While he was out of town this year, the EHS students had their final dinner at his property, in the shadow of The Grand, still basking in the glow of summiting one of America’s classic peaks just hours before.

Episcopal strives to instill intellectual and moral courage in its students, and place-based learning has long played a significant role in getting students out of their comfort zones and molding them into the portrait of an EHS graduate. “I truly understood moral and intellectual courage when I climbed the Grand Teton,” said Mary Schroeder ’23. “I realized this is courage.”

Despite being rising seniors, the Double Diamond Expedition group didn’t know each other very well before meeting up for their flight to Jackson Hole, which resulted in some butterflies and nerves. Thirty minutes in, they were playing Uno on the floor of the airport and already connecting in ways that wouldn’t have been possible without getting outside their comfort zones. Becca Losey ’23 reflected on the closeness of the group: “What I valued most was time spent around the fire with each other at the end of long days. I already look back on it fondly.”

Erin Phillips ’18 recently returned to The Holy Hill as a teaching fellow, coach, and advisor, among other roles. She attended the trip in the summer of 2017 and still remembers it like it was yesterday. She recounted that the trip prepared her and her fellow classmates to lead the student body when they returned to campus for their senior year. “I think back on the experience and feel like that’s where I really changed and made the switch into being an adult,” Phillips said.

The most difficult part of Phillips’ journey came at 4 a.m. on the mountain one pitch-black morning. Her headlamp had gone out and her group was racing an incoming storm to summit The Grand. She was attached to her group of six by a lone rope, and she said she learned more about the importance of leadership at that moment than in any other instance in her life. The trip was hard and physical, and despite being an accomplished hiker, Phillips struggled mentally to tackle the hard moments where her body and brain were both equally tired. “I learned how to comfort someone in a time of crisis when they really need your support,” she said, “…something that still helps me to this day.”

As the Double Diamond Expedition approaches its 15th anniversary, Townsend’s original vision has come true again and again. As he envisioned the trip, he thought that “if you could have an incredible outdoor experience at a young age, say while you are at Episcopal, maybe that would be impactful enough to change who you are as a person.” The students and beneficiaries of his generosity agree: “This is truly an experience that no other high schoolers get to experience, thanks to Mr. Townsend,” recapped Will Snead ’23. “I know it’s going to be one of the moments I look back most fondly on from my time at Episcopal.”

Townsend (far left) pictured on the trip with members of the Classes of 2009 and 2010