The College School takes students into the wilderness for experiences, expeditions and campouts they will remember forever. The outdoor skills and competencies that children learn while climbing and spelunking help them develop leadership skills, the ability to make good decisions, cooperative learning, risk taking, and responsibility. Learning to climb rocks or to explore caves are simply vehicles for students to find themselves and appreciate their role in the natural world. It’s courageous what the students do during their adventures. They realize that they can do more than they thought they could do, and that is one of the most powerful things in education.

For all our outdoor adventures and challenges, safety is always paramount. Facilitators see to this, and students are also consistently taught to evaluate the safety factors of their risks and the possible ramifications of their actions, whether they are rock climbing, spelunking, or acting as a peer mediator between two friends.  The challenges are also always embedded in a bigger picture. Students and teachers will spend many hours and class periods in preparation and training for a challenge. Once the adventure has been experienced, the process is far from over. Perhaps the most important piece is yet to come: the reflection.