Waldorf News

A different kind of eighth grade trip

From Gabriel Bernier

Deer Hill Expeditions creates opportunities for meaningful 8th Grade class trips for Waldorf schools by facilitating real and genuine challenge in beautiful landscapes. Whether it’s the fun and adventure of a rafting expedition, or the uniqueness of an introduction to life in the Navajo Nation, or both, participants on Deer Hill programs have the chance to find their strengths in real experiences. Waldorf School of Orange County teacher, Miriam Whiteley, put it best in a letter to Deer Hill after an expedition designed for her 8th Grade class.

San Diego Waldorf Grade 8 (2014) running a Class II rapid on the San Juan River.

Our 8th grade class trip could not have been better in any way thanks to the wonderful people and fantastic program at Deer Hill Expeditions, and I’m writing to tell you why.

The foundation of the program is rock solid. The way you elicited from me as the teacher meaningful information about the students and my expectations and wishes for our experience, and in turn prepared me for what I could do (and not do) to get the most out of our time together, was thorough but streamlined so I could manage to get it done. The next step of preparation with packing lists and parent information provided everything we needed. Finally, from the moment we met our guides to the moment we said goodbye, they were ready, willing and able.

From equipment to food, from the way they set the tone with the students for how to engage in the experience to instructions for what to do, from playful encounter to swift and steady correction, it was brilliantly accomplished. You all strive for excellence and know what you’re doing, and the mastery with which you do it is as rare as it is inspiring.

San Diego Waldorf (2014) students mend fencing in farmland held for generations by a Navajo family that’s been hosting Deer Hill service projects for over 20 years.

All this would make it a really great trip; however, I haven’t even gotten to the heart of the wonder and awe of the Deer Hill experience, and that is the places you go and the things you do there. The red rock, the brown water, the blue sky, the white clouds — the colors are so vivid and the physical surroundings so rejuvenating in their elemental strength and grace. Then the night sky is so majestically lit with stars that it makes the day’s beauty pale in comparison.

Into this setting come two most remarkable things: real and actual risk and arduous activity, very carefully planned and prepared, so that students meet true obstacles, are forced to leave the idea of a comfort zone behind, and emerge with confidence and resilience that is only earned from genuine hardship, and meaningful and difficult service work in cooperation and communication with people who give them a sense for a time, place and way of life that is unique and different, a cross-cultural exchange that changes perceptions and challenges assumptions, and allows them into a family.

Our time on the Navajo reservation was permeated with the meeting of hearts in word and deed that plants seeds of gratitude that take root and blossom over lifetimes. I am so grateful we came, and I wish you all the best with every person lucky enough to play, work and be with you good people.

Sincerely,
Miriam Whiteley

Students from East Bay Waldorf School (2015) help Deer Hill Navajo service hosts sheer sheep on their ranch.

Thinking about a class trip? Just get in touch with Gabriel Bernier at Deer Hill.
gabriel@deerhillexpeditions.com