TEN

Taking the first Steps Toward a New Outdoor Education Program

In the fall, Dan Fladager, Director of Outdoor Programs, is planning to lead a small group of juniors on a backpacking trip on a local section of the Appalachian Trail. As they navigate this 50-mile stretch, which is mostly forested and follows the edge of the Housatonic River, they will be taking the first step towards a new outdoor education program called 42|TEN that will ask all juniors to embark on a multi-day expedition.

“The name of the program is a reference to the first recreational camping trip in the United States, which was 42 miles and 10 days,” said Fladager, who conceived of 42|TEN as a way to prepare Gunn students to become leaders on campus and in their own lives through outdoor experiences they cultivate during their four years at the school.

This fall, students in the Class of 2027 will be enrolled in a series of Freshman Leadership Seminars as part of the program. The seminars will be integrated into Student Orientation, the freshman Pathways course in the Citizenship and Just Democracy Curriculum, and other events through the school year and will involve activities that build self-awareness, group cohesion, and set the foundation for students to step up as peer and school leaders. Freshmen will progress the following year to Sophomore Camping Skills, where they will camp with 20-25 of their peers for two to three nights over a weekend during their 10th grade year. Those skills will help to prepare students for the third year of the program, the Junior Expedition.

Fladager anticipates the junior backpacking trip will evolve into a significant multi-day expedition in the wilderness with a 24-hour solo experience, where students focus on expedition behavior, active citizenship, risk-taking, and resilience. “I see leadership developing through a three-stage process that begins with self-awareness, moves to self-advocacy, and concludes with group-advocacy. The three stages of 42|TEN follow that process,” he said.

Putney, Holderness, Cate, and a handful of other boarding schools offer solo outdoor experiences along the same lines,

Fladager said, noting that solos are a staple of Outward Bound and NOLS experiences as well. Kurt Hahn, an educator and founder of Outward Bound, introduced solos as early as the 1920s in Germany. “Hahn instilled the notion that regular intervals of solitary silence were key for growth in learning,” according to the Outward Bound Blog.

“Solo experiences create opportunities for self-reflection, for learning to create comfort without the crutch of distraction, and to become more comfortable with yourself and your thoughts,” Fladager said. “For some students, it will be the first time in their lives that they will spend time alone without a cell phone. It’s a self-reflective time, but we will have safety checks built in. Gunn instructors will be checking on students from a distance every six hours at a minimum. The students will be separate from each other, so they don’t see each other, but the instructors can see them.”

While there is no 42|Ten requirement for seniors, interested students will have the opportunity to join a Leader-in-Training Program, which will give them the opportunity to join the Instructor Team on sophomore or junior trips. “Our goal is to prepare students to be more than outdoorsmen. We will use expeditionary adventure trips as a way to push our character education program to the limits, and to teach students to be independent, self-aware members of an intentional community,” Fladager said.

Honors in Outdoor Leadership

Students who intend to make outdoor education a component of their college program or career will have the option to graduate with Honors in Outdoor Leadership through a new keystone program geared toward mastery in leadership, selfawareness, and competence outdoors. Students can apply to the program at any point but will need two to three years to complete the requirements. Once they do, the honors distinction will be conferred at Commencement and will appear on their official high school transcript.

This page: students hiked the Southern Massachusetts section of the Appalachian Trail in June 2022. Opposite page (top): students hiked the AT from Bulls Bridge to Stony Brook over Spring Long Weekend in April; (below) a student in Nature Writers class sketching beside the Shepaug River.

Students in Honors Outdoor Leadership will learn intermediate and advanced-level camping and backpacking skills and have the potential to earn certifications in Leave No Trace ethics, Wilderness First Aid, Swiftwater Rescue, and as a Wilderness First Responder. They will participate with their peers in multi-day trips that emphasize safety, wellness, and fun, learn how to cook delicious and nutritious meals from scratch over an open fire, and how to navigate in the wilderness using a map and compass.

“This program will provide opportunities for students to appreciate the beauty and challenge of their surroundings in some of the most interesting and demanding terrain that New England has to offer,” Fladager said, noting that students who choose to pursue this track will need to complete specific academic requirements, including humanities and science courses, and one Winterim course in Outdoor Leadership.

These may include academic courses such as Nature Writers, a field course for students interested in nature and nature writing, Environmental History, a course outlining how the environmental movement began in the United States, or AP Environmental Science. Additional courses are offered during Winterim, such as Live Like Sasquatch: Leave No Trace, offered in December, in which students learned the seven Leave No Trace principles and put them to good use on a five-day, four-night backpacking trip to the Lonesome Lake Mountain Hut in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

In the senior year, students will complete either an academic or leadership capstone project that will affirm their lifelong commitment to outdoor leadership. To accomplish this, students may apply to the Gunn Scholar Program to complete a yearlong, independent research project, or complete their Civic Changemakers Project, a diploma requirement, with a sustainability or adventure focus. Those who choose to fulfill this requirement through a leadership capstone project can participate in a guide-in-training program and help to lead 10 of their peers on an intensive backpacking or canoeing expedition, Fladager said.