RKMP A Trek Back

A Trek Back The Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program 1993 - 2007

Tapping trees, 1950’s

A Retrospective of

The Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program From a naturalist’s point of view, it was indeed serendipitous that Glenny Farm was for sale when Seaver Buck was ready to open his school for boys. The Headmaster instilled a strong work ethic in the students through utilization of all that the land beneath Mount Everett provided. In the formative years of the school and when times were lean and expenses had to be cut during the war, the farm provided the milk, cream, butter and vegetables served at meals. As the school grew, faculty worked with students on outdoor endeavors which improved the campus interweaving an appreciation for, and an exploration of the mountain with classical classroom teaching. Some early initiatives instructed students on how to tap the mountain’s natural resources through team participation: • The Berkshire Outing Club was formed; among its endeavors was the building of a ski jump and toboggan slide; eventually, a rope tow (with its various wheels, weights and pulleys) was installed by the boys and their teachers.

• As members of The Trail Squad, students and faculty felled trees and removed brush to create the trails enjoyed today for hiking and skiing. They also cleared a portion of land leading to The Appalachian Trail; a path today known as The Elbow Trail. Maintenance of these trails would comprise future fall and spring work for the squad.

• Whenever possible, the decorations for public events were gathered from the surrounding flora.

• The tapping of maple trees became an annual winter endeavor with students and faculty building the first sugar house for processing the sap.

• When the flood of 1955 tore through the campus, bridges were replaced by faculty and students.

• In the 50s, when equipment was acquired, climbing and boating expeditions became part of the athletic schedule. Faculty often taught outdoors when the weather cooperated and began to use the “natural classroom” more and more. The seasonal Watch and Adventure programs were established and became part of the curriculum.

Clockwise from top: students harvesting potatoes, 1907; founder Seaver Buck; students at their chores, 1930’s

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Students on the mountain, 1920’s

Trail Squad with Art Chase (far left) and Twiggs Myers (second from right), 1960’s

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During the 1991-1992 academic year, the administration and faculty were hard at work firming up their ideal “Mountain Program,” which outlined twenty goals to present to the Trustees. When Peter Rittenhouse “Ritt” Kellogg, Jr. ’85 died on June 24, 1992 in an avalanche on a mountain top in Alaska, it had a profound effect thousands of miles away at the school he loved. Though the community lost a vital alumnus, when donations began to accrue toward a memorial in Ritt’s honor, the “Mountain Committee” (comprised of faculty who knew of Ritt’s love for climbing and ecology) worked even more diligently. As Ritt’s legacy, the committee developed a program for every student to connect with Berkshire’s natural environment through academic courses and through structured, firsthand experiences in nature. The committee completed its final proposal in May 1993, and a letter of gratitude was sent to the Berkshire community announcing that, through the generosity of his friends and family, the newly endowed Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program was about to become a reality.

In preparation, Don Morley, a Spanish teacher and integral member of the Mountain Committee, used his sabbatical in the fall of 1993 to renew his skills by mountain biking in Moab, rafting the Colorado River, solo mountain climbing in Escalante, and backpacking in the Maze district of Canyonlands National Park. Upon his return he led four students on the first official outing of the new RKMP’s Winter Wilderness Adventure program to the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine. The same year, he and three students attempted the summit of Cotopaxi in Ecuador, but turned back due to altitude sickness. They made a successful second attempt in 1996. By the fall of 1994, the fundamental ideals of the program were well implemented, giving Berkshire the finest secondary school outdoor program in America.

The RKMP has prospered for several reasons: it began with an excellent and well established foundation of outdoor activities; it has been nourished through the years by dedicated, committed, and like-minded faculty; the student members have embraced the program’s ideals and their role as stewards of the natural world; and, by loyal donors who have continued to contribute annually to the program.

Information for the following timeline was culled from the annual RKMP newsletters, which often include only the highlights of the year’s events. Therefore, what is reported in the timeline is only a partial picture of all that is accomplished. Nevertheless, we hope you will agree that 100 years later Seaver Buck’s vision for Berkshire continues, indeed flourishes, through this vital program.

Fall 1994 through Summer ’95 The first Director of the RKMP is named: Mark Livsey, Coordinator of Environmental Education

Third Form Experiential Education Program is initiated (eventually known as the Third Form English/Ropes Course Program). Four different sessions on the ropes course will be held during the fall for all third form students.

They will receive written assignments to correspond to the activities and challenges they face on the course.

Don Morley (left) and Mark Livsey in Equador.

Founder Tyson Kaman ’96 and six other students comprise the Mountain Biking team’s pilot program that is added to the Spring Watch program the following year. The squad trains five to six days a week participating in events in the greater New England area.

A twelve-person team explores Schenob Brook and other local streams, lakes and ponds to classify flora and fauna and conclude their adventure with an overnight on Mount Alander in Copake, New York in the Fall Watch program.

Fall Wilderness Adventure is added to parallel the Winter and Spring Wilderness Adventure programs.

Ten members undertake the first spring vacation trip to Joshua Tree National Park in California for rock climbing and backpacking in the desert.

Environmental Science is added to the curriculum and a study of ozone gas concentration at the base of Mount Everett begins with support from the RKMP.

Eight members of the Winter Wilderness Adventure ascend Mount Adams in New Hampshire, the second highest peak in New England (4,400 ft) but are thwarted in their efforts by a blizzard. Since the inception of the wilderness adventure programs, members have already climbed the highest mountains in four states.

Five faculty members complete the American Canoe Association’s course in safety and instruction resulting in several local canoe trips to train students in safety, flatwater paddling on the Housatonic, and whitewater maneuvers through a section of river in Falls Village, Connecticut.

Annually, faculty members are to be sponsored in wilderness medicine/safety courses.

Seven members complete a 14-day trip to Sawtooth National Recreation Area in Idaho, where they partake in rock climbing, fly fishing, white-water rafting, and backpacking.

The Watch Program is provided with three new canoes and a trailer.

Twelve members complete a 24-hour First Responder Course and RKMP adds a rescue sled and full first-responder kit to its equipment.

The following sixth-formers begin work on an illustrated field guide of the trees on campus; Dan Feldman (field work, writer and editor), Sarah Hermans (illustrator) and Mark Hancock (head naturalist, primary writer and researcher).

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Fall 1995 through Summer ’96 Don Morley, 20-year Spanish teacher, takes over the reins as Director

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Faculty Staff Members of the RKMP: Jen Gaenzle, assistant to the dean of students; Peter Kinne, environmental science teacher; Hilary Russell, English teacher; Eric Austin, mathematics teacher; Frank Barros, science teacher; Al Bredenfoerder, mathematics teacher; Rob Clements, chaplain; Heather Forrest, Spanish teacher; Steven Craig, English teacher; Jeremy LaCasse ’90, history teacher; and Robert Wiley, WFA instructor.

A climbing wall is constructed in the athletic center and, during Alumni Weekend, over thirty alumni attempt the climb to the top hand hold.

Annually, faculty members are to be sponsored in wilderness medicine/safety courses.

Spring Watch adds fishing and nature illustration to its program with outings in fly fishing and artistry on the Green and Konkapot Rivers, and Schenob and Alander Brooks, resulting in excellent drawings of spring wildflowers for the walls of Chevalier Lodge.

Watch Program establishes The Cedar Box Awards; “Most Reliable Fall Watcher” goes to Crystal Mendez ’98 and “Best Naturalist” to Andrew Bartlett ’97.

All students participating in the RKMP will take the Red Cross Standard First Aid and Adult CPR course that will be repeated every two years.

RKMP sponsors a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course on campus.

Two faculty members participate in the International Conference of Outdoor Recreation and Education (ICORE) workshops that include developing student leaders, orientation programs and litigation issues in outdoor education, forest canopy access techniques and ideas for utilizing a climbing wall.

January’s trip to Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire (skiing and snowshoeing expedition) becomes a hike instead due to sudden mild weather.

Seven students and four adults reach the summit of Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. This trip consisted of a 12-mile ski hauling sleds and backpacks. Overnight temperatures fell to -10ºF and in the morning a 3.5 mile hike commenced to base camp. Temperatures at zero the next day for the ascent of Saddle Trail to the Tableland and south to the summit didn’t deter the victorious team.

Mark Livsey accompanies Don Morley to lead three students on the most ambitious and successful expedition in the history of the RKMP to date: a 20-day mountaineering course in the Andes of Ecuador to attempt the summits of Cotopaxi and Chimborazo. The Berkshire banner flies at 19,348 feet above sea level on August 3rd atop Cotopaxi, but a sudden snow storm forces the team to turn back from their ascent of Chimborazo.

Wet weather survival techniques are emphasized in the Fall Watch program’s third trip to the Catskills as two inches of rain accumulate during sixty-mile-perhour winds followed by a snow storm!

RKMP continues to work with local conversation organizations such as The Sheffield Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and Appalachian Trail Club (by maintaining the Elbow Trail), The Trustees of Reservations and the Massachusetts Audubon Society via lectures and outings in conjunction with Peter Kinne’s ecology class.

The sixth-form Watch independent study field guide results in the publication of The Berkshire Tree Guide, a twenty-one page saddle-bound booklet with illustrations and maps.

Fall 1996 through Summer ’97 RKMP holds the first orientation program exposing new students to numerous mountain activities

Don Morley attends an ICORE conference at University of Utah on Risk Management in Outdoor Education: He learns how to build a backcountry yurt, trains on their climbing walls, and gathers tips on developing student leaders.

Three faculty members attend a Wilderness Risk Managers Conference in Utah.

Peter Kinne is asked by The College Board of Princeton to instruct a pilot program in Advanced Placement Environmental Science at Berkshire.

In his role as director of technical climbing, Frank Barros trains nine students as core supervisors for the climbing wall.

Eric Gunderson ’98, Ben Cheney ’98 and John Knowlton ’99, build ultralight solo canoes. Their goal is for a dozen boat kits to be cut out by winter vacation based on their prototype.

Activities of the Fall Watch program include bushwhacking Yagar Pond, exploring Ice Glen, canoeing and camping through local terrain, re-blazing upper ends of Mount Everett trails and cutting white-ash Biltmore sticks to measure height and diameter of standing trees. Bayard Blain ’97 wins “Best Naturalist Award.”

Katie Shea ’97 works with Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management mapping the natural resources of Berkshire campus.

Robin McGraw ’70, paramedic and member of the South Egremont Fire Department and the Berkshire County Search and Rescue Team, volunteers to revitalize the RKMP’s mountain-rescue team procedures.

Alumni Bruce Fina ’85 and Andrew Herrick ’85 provide jerseys, tires, brakes, shifters, derailleurs and lubricants for the Mountain Biking Team. The team achieved medals in all races and were prize-winners in every class entered in the National Off Road Bicycling Association’s sanctioned races showcasing between 400 and 1,300 riders.

The year ends with a collaborative 19-day expedition to Ecuador with St. Stephen’s School. Ten students and faculty attempt to reach the summit of Cayambe, Cotopaxi and Chimborazo. Don Morley suffers a fractured forearm and a few students succumb to minor intestinal disorders but the following students reach the summit of all three Andean giants: Phil Dunn ’98, Jot Jayne ’99 and Liam Millhiser ’99.

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Toboggan run, 1923

Fall 1997 through Summer ’98

Indian Mountain Adventures, Inc. finishes reconstruction of a new ropes challenge course consisting of 12 low elements (swing log, spider’s web, the wall, etc.) and 8 high elements. The course will conclude with a ride down the zip wire to the forest floor.

Berkshire hosts the first annual RKMP Climbing Competition with student climbers from Taft, Ethel Walker and Salisbury competing; Will Feher ’98 receives first-place honors after reaching one hand hold higher than the climber from Taft.

The first Winter Watch “EcoChallenge” is held. A series of events include a hike to Black Rock, a climb on the wall, a human chariot race and a cooking lesson involving snow and macaroni.

Jen Dinaburg ’98 and Katri Morley ’98 belay Berkshire trustees through the high ropes course; Trustee Emeritus Lee Weil ‘44C completes the circuit with a fly down the zip wire.

The seven-member biking team places riders on the winners’ podium in every event entered. Jot Jayne ’99 competes in expert division and places fifth at Pedrostock and Zach Urban ’00 posts best time at Pedrostock.

University of Connecticut women’s basketball team visits on a Saturday in October to train in a program using the new ropes course.

Three faculty members attend the Wilderness Risk Managers Conference on Outdoor Recreation and Education at Snowbird, Utah to increase overall safety in the RKMP initiatives.

Jeremy LaCasse ’90 guides the Winter Wilderness Adventure members up the Bigelow Mountain Range in Maine.

Fourth-formers spend a weekend at Camp High Rock sponsored by the RKMP.

Frank Barros embarks on a two-week expedition during the summer through the beautiful mountains of Denali National Park in Alaska for training in glacier climbing with Alaska Mountain School while RKMP instructor, Heather Forrest, trains in the Himalayas.

Heather Forrest completes First Responder training at Hurricane Island Outward Bound School.

Ten students and faculty set out to reach Mount Katahdin’s summit and three achieve their goal. These three also acted as instructors to newer climbers when adverse weather conditions prevailed and one student tore the meniscus in his right knee. They fashioned a sled from backpacks and evacuated the injured member to base camp, where they were able to create a more “high tech” sled.

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Five more faculty members receive their Wilderness First Aid certificates.

Ten students and two faculty members build their very own Swamp Yankee solo canoes by the end of the year. Student members of Fall Watch paddle and portage in the St. Regis canoe area of the Adirondacks; while on campus, students plant bulbs on the south slope below the gym, rebuild log steps to the ropes course, replace the deck on the bridge leading to Secret Road and help the Nature Conservancy destroy invading phragmites cane at Jug End. Cedar Box Awards: “Most Reliable Contributor” Eric Gunderson ’98, and “Best Naturalist” Mika Woyda ’99.

Fall 1998 through Summer ’99

Mountain Biking team receives a donation of a complete set of tools and not one rider withdraws for mechanical failure. The team continues its winning streak; Otto Neumuth ’02 finishes in the top of every one of his beginner class rides.

The climbing wall gets 150 new holds.

University of Connecticut’s coach, Skip Holtz, brings the men’s football team to Berkshire to use the ropes course as part of its pre-season training camp program.

Director Don Morley heads to Nepal during March vacation to lay the ground work for future RKMP trips which may include: study of the Nepali language, a service project for a school in Fulkharka (Nepali families host our students), travel to the jungle of Chitwan, and rafting the Sun Kosi River.

Hilary Russell undertakes a birch-bark canoe-building workshop at the WoodenBoat School in Maine and is inspired to instruct future students to use traditional Native American tools and methodology.

Director Don Morley partakes in the two-week course offered by Alaska Mountaineering School in May improving upon his ice climbing skills and running belays; skills that will translate directly to the Winter Wilderness Adventure program, specifically for future trips to Mount Katahdin.

Student participants of the Fall Watch program rebuild the 100-year-old Manganese Mine Bridge under the leadership of Hilary Russell and Al Bredenfoerder. Three 30-foot hemlocks are de-barked and squared up with bow saws and chisels to create the 18-foot bridge and railing.

Twelve climbers brave -10ºF during a four-day winter trek in Killington, Vermont, covering over 20 miles with 50-pound backpacks; the same group tackles the vertical ice of Pitchoff Mountain in New York a month later.

Ropes course, 1970’s

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Fall 1999 through Summer ’00

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The Winter Wilderness Adventure’s mountain room moves from the basement of Godman Dorm to the former kitchen in Memorial Hall. Students set up a new computer-based inventory system.

Sam Anderson ’03 builds a jig for a 12-foot type double-paddle canoe with a light frame resembling a kayak. Working together with Hilary Russell they build a prototype and members build three more boats in the spring.

New harnesses for the climbing wall are tested during the October training of wall supervisors; climbing ropes and a dozen shoes complete the newly acquired equipment.

Don Morley attends the Association for Experiential Education’s International Conference in October to increase his “bag of tricks” and, using Berkshire’s Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program as an example, he is a copresenter of a 3-hour workshop entitled Adventure Internationally.

Five members set off for the Adirondacks to tackle several multi-pitch ice climbs, with the highest being over 300 feet. The same team ascends Katahdin in February with temperatures dropping to -15ºF. After reaching the summit they head into the 60-mile-per-hour wind for the descent with an exhilarating shout from Otto Neumuth ’02, “This is awesome!”

While vacationing in Wales, Hilary Russell visits the National Coracle Museum to learn how coracle boats are built.

Frank Barros climbs Devil’s Tower in Wyoming to gather tips on teaching aid techniques and safety needs for high-angle rescues and use of gear in emergency situations.

Don Morley enrolls in a second course offered by Alaska Mountaineering School called “Mountain Educators” and increases his knowledge in crevasse rescue and safety systems, avalanches, building snow pits and safe shelters.

Thirty students arrive for tryouts in the rock climbing program implemented

by Frank Barros, and twelve are selected to begin the program schedule: They boulder on the “oil field” beneath Black Rock, undertake aerobic exercise and weight training, and practice rope climbing on Reservoir Rock in Great Barrington.

Mountain Biking starts off on a 16-mile ride and the distance is extended to 48 miles with Sean Nealy ’93, a national cycling champion, at the lead. “Most Improved Rider Award” goes to J.P. Herdeg ’02 who joined three weeks into the season and placed twelfth at the Meadow Muffin Madness race.

Sam Dibbins, standing far left, initiates Project Lifeline, 1970

Fall 2000 through Summer ’01

Fall Watch members replace a bridge on the South Pinnacle, do trail maintenance, pre-stain the siding to the new Arthur C. Chase Sugar House and still have time for canoeing, hiking and rope climbing.

Hilary Russell attends his third two-week workshop at WoodenBoat School in Maine and will use his newly acquired lofting skills to lay out lines for his students’ boats.

Jesús Ibáñez undertakes a 16day wilderness course expedition with the National Outdoor Leadership School in the Tombstone Mountain Range in the Yukon territory of Alaska.

Freed from cumbersome, space-consuming jigs in Chevalier Lodge, students build three 14-foot kayaks, one coracle, one solo canoe, one skiff and one umiak.

Otto Neumuth ’02 is the first Berkshire student to attend Alaska Mountaineering School and to have “breakfast with 60,000 Caribou.” Otto writes, “Without the Internet, telephones, or television, one could say that for 14 days we were out of touch with the world; but I say that I have never been more in touch with the world in my life.”

Left: Art Chase in the original sugar house Above: Mike Dalton inside the new Arthur C. Chase Sugar House

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Fall 2001 through Summer ’02 Alumnus D. Jeremy LaCasse ’90 returns from a year’s absence as the new director of the RKMP

New director’s charge to his staff: • Coordinate even greater use of the mountain to enhance academic and extracurricular programs; • Promote safe and responsible use of the mountain to preserve the natural environment; • Offer each student an opportunity to learn how the bedrock of this campus can be used in harmony with the academic classroom; • Revive the Black Rock Society to help increase awareness of our impact on the natural environment.

The Black Rock Society re-establishes its goals to achieve an even more environmentally friendly school.

Jesús Ibáñez and Jeremy LaCasse ’90 take fifteen students out on a new weekend survival skills course, an initiation covering everything from spending a night in a dripping pile of leaves to using a bow drill to create a fire.

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Michael Caruso spends 12 days with Alaska Mountaineering School in Denali National Park and reports “Once we knew how to fall, we were ready to climb.” In addition to learning how to cook on a glacier, he dangled 80 feet inside a crevasse to test his skills with two axes, built and slept in an igloo and learned all about the formation of the glacier they practiced on and its rate of movement (three feet per year) that was “as deep as Mount Everett is tall,” (2,602 feet).

By the end of the year, a total of twenty-six boats have been built on the eve of the boat building program’s fifth anniversary.

Jeremy LaCasse ’90 (far right) with Alpine Ski Team.

Rock climbing continues to be a success as twenty-seven climbers sign up for the twelve coveted spots in the program.

Fall Watch members construct an outdoor classroom 100 yards behind Berkshire Hall built of white oak benches placed on seven stone piers about 16 inches high in the shape of a heptagon.

Fall 2002 through Summer ’03

The science department works with RKMP to launch a Web page cataloguing the flora and fauna of the campus.

Don Morley retires his ice axes and Frank Barros and Mike Caruso take over as Don continues to instruct the Fall Rock Climbing Program and the Spring Mountain Biking team.

French and math classes utilize the outdoor classroom behind Berkshire Hall built by Fall Watch members last year.

The sixth bridge is rebuilt by Fall Watch for the Secret Road.

Hilary Russell and Al Bredenfoerder take a one-week timber-framing course at the Heartwood School in Becket, Massachusetts.

Deco Goodman ’04 combines his talent in filmography with his passion for rock climbing; his pictures will be used on the RKMP Web page.

Frank Barros climbs the world-renowned El Capitan peak of Yosemite Park—3,300 feet of unremitting granite—on a five-day, big-wall climb straight up the rock face to the pinnacle.

Eight more Trustees and Advisory Board members join the RKMP staff for a wet afternoon on the ropes course.

Frank Barros leads four members of Winter Wilderness Adventure program to the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire.

Bridge building, 1950’s

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Fall 2003 through Summer ’04 Frank Barros becomes the fourth director of the RKMP

The RKMP Web page is designed and introduced by Frank Barros to remind alumni of their legacy and to invite the greater Berkshire community to appreciate the landscape and inspire more interdisciplinary activity with the natural resources the mountain offers. It will also serve as a comprehensive on-line database with a virtual showcase for student work as it applies to the mountain.

The first “Mountain Passport” is created to provide a visual aid to all the natural resources available on campus.

Under the guidance of Al Bredenfoerder and Hilary Russell, Fall Watch begins a two-year project constructing a replica of Henry Thoreau’s 10’x15’ cabin at Walden Pond, to be located in the woods behind Berkshire Hall.

First phase: build a stone foundation and construct the frame using mortiseand-tendon and pegged techniques that Thoreau employed.

Bark and Branches, a new Winter Watch program led by Hilary Russell, is launched. Members roam the woods collecting green limbs of hickory, sugar maple, hornbeam, black cherry, red osier dogwood, alder, black, yellow and white birch, and lengths of grapevine to build rustic furniture consisting of tables, a magazine rack, chairs and original sculptures. Students learn to weave chair seats from shaker tape and during Spring Watch they will begin the furniture for Thoreau House.

A first for boat building as three different kinds of skin-on-frame boats are built at the same time: a 12.5 foot long umiak by Matt Crowson ’06, an 11 foot low-seat canoe by Abby Watson ’04, and a kayak by Frances Gaston ’06, with help from Megan O’Hara ’06 and Vincent DeAntonio ’04.

Frank Barros ascends Devil’s Tower

Ski jump, 1957

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Fall 2004 through Summer ’05

The Green Campus Initiative (a curriculum in leadership skills) is launched. All sixthformers attend a four-day experiential workshop that introduces them to the Eleven Competencies of Leadership as well as group dynamics, feedback and self-awareness to learn to lead the third, fourth and fifth-formers in sound environmental conservation practices through the establishment of conservation efforts for every building on campus.

Kelsy Oberkoetter ’07 and Lauren Ginsberg ’06 are the first females to join the Mountain Biking Team. Kelsy finishes second in her age group and by the end of the season wins first place in all of the interscholastic races and second in the non-school races.

Lisa Báez participates in an intensive American Canoe Association Whitewater Instructor Certification course at Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center in Salida, Colorado, in preparation for the RKMP’s new Kayak Program.

Science teacher Mike Dalton joins in on the work at Thoreau House as members strive to complete it by the summer of 2005. Flooring, loft, ceiling and room boards are laid and trimming is completed for the interior and exterior. The students set posts around the chimney, nail on lathing and plaster the interior walls with two gray coats and one finish coat of a lime and water mixture. Three chairs, a bed (caned by students), a table and a desk are completed. Local artisans lend a hand in aspects of masonry and furniture building so that the cabin is complete with three chairs: “one for

Thoreau crew: Mike Dalton (left), Allan Bredenfoerder center and left of Hilary Russell.

solitude, two for friendship, three for society.”

At the end of the year the student-led recycling program collects 4,850 pounds of electronics, 77 pounds of printer cartridges, 380 pounds of universal waste (mostly batteries), and 450 pounds of recycled clothing that will be sent to families affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

Eight students travel through Peru to learn about its culture and societies. In Lima they ride and hike to the outlying primitive village of Shipasbamba and 13

Fall 2005 through Summer ’06

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The National Wildlife Federation grants Berkshire School Campus Ecology Recognition for its waste management efforts through the Green Campus Initiative, making Berkshire the first secondary school in the country to earn this honor.

The goals of the Green Campus Initiative expand to include more energy and water conservation strategies; more on-site education efforts in the classroom, development of a forest management plan in the academic program, diligent work with the physical plant to purchase products that are environmentally sound and, lastly, advocacy for LEED certified buildings.

A pilot Kayaking Program is launched by Lisa Báez and Jesús Ibáñez.

Classified as competitive, ten students will learn the fundamentals of paddling, with an emphasis on safety and technique. Exploration of area lakes, ponds and class-1 rivers and larger coastal kayaking or whitewater rafting weekends are planned.

Lindsay Clarke partakes in the Alaska Mountaineering School workshop in Denali National Park. Some of the survival skills she learns include how to make a tent platform, digging a kitchen in the snow, and how to care for personal belongings in anticipation of sudden storms.

Hilary Russell retires but continues to hold lectures for Fall Watch on the literary history, construction timeline and contemporary relevance of the Thoreau House.

English study RKMP initiatives for the fifth form include Transcendental Night (a symposium in Berkshire Hall) and Transcendental Overnight (a guided sleep-over in Thoreau House).

A new “trick park” is created by the softball field to work on mountain biking skills.

Chris Brunn ’07 accepts the challenge of an overnight outing in Thoreau House as the temperature falls to 20°F and he finds himself “going outside the margins,” to appreciate the serenity and tranquility of nature.

Five students reach Mount Katahdin’s summit and return in time to see the Super Bowl!

Science Chair Anita Loose-Brown reports that “students are ‘doing’ science, not just learning about it in classes such as environmental science, biology, geology and conceptual physical science: They measure insect populations with Berlese Funnels, collect plants and animals, study sink holes, and catalogue red-backed salamander populations.”

Fall 2006 through Summer ’07

Current Staff: Frank Barros, Director of RKMP and science teacher; Lisa Báez, English teacher; Mike Dalton, science teacher; *Kate Garbutt, mathematics teacher; Richard Giles, mathematics teacher; Jesús Ibáñez, Spanish teacher; John Moodey, English teacher; and *Daniel Yaverbaum, science teacher.

The Black Rock Association will now be called the RKMP Conservation Committee. Faculty gathers information for Berkshire’s first Green House Gas Inventory to make more informed decisions on conservation issues while eleven students lead dorm recycling efforts, energy conservation efforts (electrical meters are spliced into every dorm for data tracking) and create biodiesel fuel from the kitchen’s wasted vegetable oil to use in maintenance vehicles with diesel engines.

All dorms participate in a school-wide competition in order to determine which dorm does the best job at recycling and conserving energy through the initiatives set by the Conservation Committee.

The ropes course usage is at an all time high as JV teams schedule a turn to strengthen team dynamics.

Frank Barros leads four students: Sierra LaBonte ’10, Joe Cohen ’08, George Haydock ’09, Lars Nelson ’09, and alumnus Josh Brande ’07 on a five-day climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro—one of “The Seven Summits” of the world that rises 19,341 feet above the dry plains of Tanzania, Africa. The successful climbers then entered the second phase of the expedition, a safari into the Seregenti Plain and the Ngorongoro Crater. *New faculty who joined at the beginning of the 2007 fall semester.

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Additional historical information on the RKMP can be found on the School’s Web site (www.berkshireschool.org) by clicking on the “Celebrating a Century” button on the home page, and selecting the 1990’s in the “Berkshire School through the Decades” section. Current news regarding the RKMP can be found by clicking on the program’s button on the home page or by subscribing to RSS feeds in the RKMP News section.

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245 North Undermountain Road, Sheffield, MA 01257 Phone: 413-229-1003 Fax: 413-229-1016 www.berkshireschool.org