Junior Enrichment: Outward Bound

by Anthony Hingley (junior)

Each year, rising Teaching Fellows juniors choose an activity to do the summer preceding their junior year. They include options such as trips to Europe, working at the Special Olympics, or the one I chose, Outward Bound. The prices span a wide spectrum, and that had something to do with my decision to do an Outward Bound course. The course was described as a hiking/backpacking adventure, and it sounded like something that would challenge me. I was kind of dreading the trip to Asheville, but afterwards, looking back, I really enjoyed it and if I was given the chance, I would do it all over again.

The trip started with us arriving at the airport in Asheville, at which point we rode in a van to the place we would begin. We were provided with backpacks, sleeping bags, water bottles, and a bowl and spoon. We then took our clothes and other necessities out of our personal bags and placed them in our backpacks. We also had to divide up our meals for the week and our rock climbing gear, so by the time we put everything in there, the bags were not exactly the lightest things to carry. We started out, and the combination of following trails and bushwhacking using a map and compass led us to each of our sites for camping, where we set up tarps and layed our sleeping bags on the ground.

It was a very fun and informative trip, learning much about the wildlife in the mountains, finding out how to rock climb, and "roughing it." I would recommend it to anyone who is given the opportunity to try it, and as with many things, you get out of it what you put in, so keep an open mind no matter the situation.