On their first day of school, the 28 students at Harford Friends School never saw a desk, textbook, or whiteboard.
Instead, the middle school children went to an outdoor learning center, where they spent the day rock climbing, problem-solving, and team building.
"We bring our students here to give them a safe environment for taking healthy risks," said Jonathan Huxtable, Harford Friends head of school. "It's neat to watch the eighth-graders step up and take the lead."
Since the school's inception four years ago, students have been going to the Genesee Valley Outdoor Learning Center in Parkton on the first day of school. The activity is designed to give the children a chance to get to know one another, solve problems as a group and leave as a cohesive unit.
"We could do similar things in the classroom, but being at Genesee gives us a chance to place the children and draw out moments of conflict," Huxtable said.
Upon arrival at the center at 9 a.m. Tuesday, the students were split into three groups. The main objective was to get the children to work to their highest potential, Huxtable said.
One group of students walked into the woods to the MINI-DID ropes course. After a safety briefing, Jordan Hartman, a seventh-grader, went first. As she began making her way across the first obstacle, Huxtable asked her classmates what they would want to hear if it were them on the ropes. Several children said in unison, "Go Jordan." Then in a tiny voice, Alex Foley quipped, "Help me."
As each of the children took a turn, Huxtable explained the role of the ropes course in his educational plan. The idea is to get the kids to stretch outside of their comfort zones, he said.
Using a twig, he drew a target on the ground. He wrote the word panic in the dirt outside of the large circle, comfort inside the small circle and stretch inside the large circle.
"Some kids come to the school and they can easily earn a B or B+, without much effort, this is their comfort zone," Huxtable said, pointing to the small circle. "The comfort zone is a place where the students are not learning, they are coasting. Out here, we try to get them outside of their comfort zone, and into their stretch zone ... which is where they will learn."
The field trip was a good way to see the kids outside of the classroom, said Jacob Norton, who started teaching sixth-and-seventh-grade math and science at the school last year.
