Mt. Scott students experience the great outdoors

A group of Mt. Scott High School students traveled to Newberry Crater National Park in central Oregon, September 27-29, for a weekend of adventure, writing and teambuilding. The trip was the fall edition of Mt. Scott’s annual partnership projects with Great Outdoors Academy (GOA).

Great Outdoors Academy works with young people, creating opportunities for personal expression through writing and expeditionary learning. GOA’s programs promote intellectual and personal development, foster appreciation and respect for the natural world, and promote involvement in a community of peers.

The trip to Newberry Crater National Park kicked off the third year of Mt. Scott’s partnership with GOA. Eight Mt. Scott students and two staff members joined the GOA team for three sun-filled days and two star-filled nights at one of the nation’s newest and most unique national monuments. Within the Newberry Crater park area, students discovered and experienced cinder and pumice cones, lava flows, caves, lakes, streams and waterfalls.

Students were responsible for setting up there own tents, working in teams to cook and clean, and for being respectful of the natural environment around them.  The evenings ended around the campfire with students drinking hot chocolate and eating smores, playing the guitar, and reading their writings from the weekend.

Mt. Scott students traveled to Fort Rock where they spent the day rock climbing, photographing their journey, writing in journals, and getting to know and work with other students. The group spent time exploring a homestead museum, hiking to and soaking in a natural hot spring, gathering gifts for other group members in nature, spelunking through lava tubes with flash lights, and learning about their animal sign through a Native American medicine wheel.

Students and staff had a great weekend and look forward to another GOA adventure in the spring.