December 16

12/16/07 

Our last week of the semester picked up the pace. Monday and Tuesday were the last two days of classes, and they were full of tests, papers and exams. Monday morning began with our last AMX of yoga, which included the option for anyone to display their favorite pose. The poses were voted on, and Crouching Tiger-Hidden Dragon, shown by Reed and Colin, took the prize. Classes on Monday were packed with review sessions and finishing last-minute material. During activity period, students went sledding with Cooper, built a snow arch at Sam and Matt’s house, or “stylized” Danny O’Brien’s wardrobe with Ben. Monday night study hall was spent preparing for the various tests and papers due on Tuesday and Wednesday. Karl woke us up Tuesday morning with a rugby-type game played in the snow - tackling allowed; although, we had the choice to throw the ball into the air to avoid being tackled into the snow. Tuesday we had our AP U.S. History exam and French and Spanish tests. US History students turned in their final paper, too. It was a stressful day for students and teachers alike, but it was nicely broken up with activities like gingerbread house-making, snow-sculpting, and candle making. On Tuesday night, we celebrated the end of a great semester of classes. The pressure wasn’t off of us yet, however, and study hall was spent preparing for the P&P exam on Wednesday.

Wednesday started off with our P&P Final. It consisted of a practical section including skills like conflict resolution, a first aid scenario, and knot tying; it also had a written part testing us on the Leave No Trace Principles and hazard evaluation. Following the exam, we had our first introduction to Full Circle; Ben briefed us on the logistics and offered us guidance on how we can write our best presentation. After lunch, each cabin took their turn getting gear for solo: booties, tarp, shovel, and stakes to mark our solo sites. Everyone relaxed after dinner (unless they were packing and cleaning) and went to bed excited for our solo the next morning. Thursday started off with a great morning exercise: a Dancing with the Stars Workout video! We proceeded to layer ourselves for the subzero morning weather and loaded the vans to head to the solo site. At Turquoise Lake, we each peeled off on the different sides of the road to find our solo sites. It was beautiful on Thursday with blue skies, and the sunshine made it much warmer than we expected. After finding a few people who were late getting back, we drove back to campus for a pasta feast. After dinner everyone cleaned out their stuff in the mudroom and went to bed.

The last few days of the RMS, in keeping with the on-going theme, were completely full with activities - everyone trying to cram in the last bit of this amazing experience. On Friday we Super-Cleaned the whole campus, making it clean and like new for the next semester to make their mark. It was tough getting everything we owned out of the main building considering we just found some things that we haven’t seen since the first days of the semester. We shoveled porches and swept stairs and got down on our hands and knees to scrub baseboards. All in all, we got it done; the campus has never looked so clean. To finish off a long day of work, we all went to our advisor’s house to eat good food and go over our Full Circle speeches. Saturday was the much anticipated ski day. We left early in the morning, and after chores, we left for Ski Cooper. We skied for a good portion of the morning, some alpine skiing, some snowboarding, and some of us making fools of ourselves as we learn how to telemark ski for the first time. Once arriving back on campus, we got ready for Full Circle. After posing for our semester photo, we all headed to the yurt to spend the afternoon sharing our personal experiences of the semester by reading our Full Circles to the rest of the RMS community. It was an evening filled with laughter, tears, stories, and revelations. It was beautiful to hear everyone’s story and to tell your own. As the semester comes to a close, we’re all torn between making the most of our last few hours together, reflecting on all the powerful experiences we’ve had here, and looking forward to whatever exciting next step we have in store. I think everyone would say that their time at the RMS has been life-changing;;we’ve learned and experienced so much in the classroom, in the mountains, and in our little RMS 19 community. We all are ready to take all the things we value most here to share the rest of the world.

By: Max Hollman, James Weiner, and Carrie Cecil