August 22, 2008

In the warm sun, the line of new acquaintances counts off. Each student shouts out his or her number with a wavering, sudden call, like second graders in the Christmas play, each afraid they will forget their only line. ...Thirty eight, thirty-nine...Fourty! All here. Rocky Mountain Semester XXI files into the yurt, stacking side by side in the small enclosure. We have gathered here to help mold the place where we will live for the next four months. Molly holds up a big pad of paper bearing three headings: Keep, Scrap and Adapt. Today, Wednesday, we will decide what aspects of high school we want to keep, scrap or adapt.

So it starts: scrap rejection, adapt teacher-student stereotypes, keep second chances, scrap self-doubt. We sat there creating what we wanted our Rocky Mountain Semester experience to be like, while our voices fogged the windows and small threads of similarity began to weave us together as a community. Slowly, we discovered we shared the same fears and expectations, the same high hopes of what Rocky Mountain Semester XXI could be, and who we could become because of it.

And we have been busy! In addition to sharing our vision for the Rocky Mountain Semester community and making new friends, our first four days on campus were packed with activities. On the first day, the faculty assigned us to our cabins, where we immediately unpacked and decorated. Some students played a pickup game of Frisbee while others lounged on the porch outside Who's Hall, enjoying the spectacular view of the mountains. The next morning, we woke bright and early for a nice walk around campus for AMX (or morning exercise). Tuesday night, we had a bonfire during which Molly had us burn our expectations and fears for the semester to symbolize our willingness to approach it with an open mind. We followed this event with delicious s'mores that we cooked over the fire! Already adjusting to our routine, we were up early for Wednesday's AMX-- a pickup game of ultimate Frisbee between cabins, where the score ended FUN to FUN. At night, Sam took us all on a nice hike to Turquoise Lake, where some decided to jump into the icy water. Afterward, we played a fun group game of "Mingle", which involved lots of, well...mingling. Then we hiked back by the light of our headlamps, admiring the gorgeous sunset, and, later, the sky filled with stars.

When we were not busy playing Frisbee and getting to know one another, we had plenty of other stuff to do because -- Newsflash: the ROCKY MOUNTAIN SEMESTER IS A SCHOOL! In fact, classes began on day two and brought back the usual moaning and groaning. We had to take placement tests for our foreign languages, which was both shocking and challenging. The length of the tests and their difficulty really caught us off guard. History and Science both went well, but toward the end of the classes, the teachers, Matt and Audrey, introduced an interesting twist: homework on the expeditions! They were not scared to pile it on! But, as Audrey said, few out there have done a science lab 12,000 feet above sea level, so we will see how it goes.

On Thursday, we began preparing for the first expedition. We first met in our expedition groups. Each group has about ten students and three teachers. After our grouping, we began packing all of our earthly belongings before the teachers asked us to limit our gear to what we needed for camping! We then learned what to put in, and how to pack our packs. We divided our big groups into tarp groups that will sleep and cook together. To get our groups prepared, we rationed out food, learned how to work the stoves, set up tarps, and (gulp) packed it all into our packs!! Everyone agrees that rationing out food was the most fun, as it involved sawing cheese off of giant blocks of Monterey Jack and cheddar, bagging cocoa powder and candy bars, and imagining all of the great things we will eat on trail. Packing the packs was the most difficult task for most, but even though we weren't sure it would happen, everyone managed to fit their gear in their packs. We then loaded our packs and were ready to go. It was an invigorating and exciting experience. We can't wait for the expedition to come!

All of Rocky Mountain Semester XXI wishes the best to all our homes, families, and parents. All we ask for in return is to think of us as we simultaneously do homework and summit mountains!

By: Olivia Fantini, Sylvia Parol, Chap Grubb, and Alec Douglas