By Isaac Chambers
Guest correspondent
Posted Monday, May 1, 2006, The OG, features

[Editor's Note: For three days and two nights last week, the freshman class took part in the “Allerton Educational Experience,” a field trip to Allerton 4-H Memorial Camp that combined academics, outdoor activities, leadership development, service learning, and class bonding. The Wednesday-to-Friday trip was the brainchild of Isaac Chambers, who proposed the idea and did much of the initial planning. So who better to give the rest of us an account of what happened when the freshmen and their teachers ventured forth into the great outdoors?]

Activities at Allerton last week included academic classes, a service project for Allerton Park, leadership training exercises, a climbing wall and zip-line, free time, a cookout, large group activities, night hikes, movies, camp fires, poker and cards, and more.

The academic classes included math, where we built large polyhedron pyramids using trigonometry; bio, where we collected organisms from Allerton's pond and studied them; English, where we wrote and read pastoral poems; art, where we made shields; and history, where we studied heraldry and its significance. In math the pyramid was large enough for students and teacher Sue Plisch to fit inside. In bio we collected organisms such as hydra, flatworms, tadpoles, water beetles, bloodworms, algae, and more.

The service project for Allerton included helping Allerton set up for its annual plant sale by labeling plants, moving tables and plants, and putting in new plants. The freshmen contributed more than 115 hours of work helping Allerton.

The rock climbing wall, on Thursday, was exciting for those who had climbed rock walls before and especially exciting for those who hadn't. One of those first-time rock climbers was none other than English teacher Elizabeth Majerus. The 40-foot rock climbing wall included four climbing walls with varying difficulty, a two-person challenge named “Giants Ladder,” and a 300-foot zip-line.

Large group activities included a game called “gold rush” and capture the flag. Gold rush is a game where students hunt for spray-painted rocks worth different values in the woods while trying to avoid bandits (teachers) before they turn those rocks into the bank.

Free time was usually spent playing Kemps, basketball, dodgeball, poker, soccer, volleyball, and other activities. The night hike through Allerton Park, and its gardens included a raccoon spotting, a trip to the Sunken Garden, and visiting the Fu Dog Garden.

I think it would be safe to say that the trip was a big success for both the teachers and students. The students got to have interesting and new academic possibilities while having a blast with the other activities. The teachers got to take a break from teaching for a short while, enjoy the weather, and participate in some of the activities such as the climbing wall, night hike, poker, and more. Majerus, Plisch, English teacher Suzanne Linder, and PE teacher Rebecca Murphy were a few of the teachers who climbed the 40-foot climbing wall and zip-line.

I really hope that the Allerton Experience is continued for freshman classes for years to come. It was definitely worthwhile.