The Eagle Newsletter, Spring 2020

EAGLE’S NEST CAMP

THE EAGLE

THE OUTDOOR ACADEMY

HANTE ADVENTURES

The Eagle’s Nest Foundation Newsletter SPRING 2020

OA - 25 Years and Growing

IN THIS ISSUE: OA Now and Then p. 2

Growing Through the Programs p. 5

Living the Mission p. 6

Lunchtime with the DEI Committee p. 8

EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, PROMOTING THE NATURAL WORLD AND THE BETTERMENT OF HUMAN CHARACTER

Now and Then

OA Through the Years

By Ted Wesemann, OA Teacher

Let me share excerpts from an Eagle article I wrote in the Spring of 2002 nearly 20 years ago: In 1994, one year before the scheduled opening of The Outdoor Academy, Alex Waite and I trekked northward along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains to seek council from the legendary Maine Coast Semester. Enthusiastic boys on a journey to see how the old men ran a semester school...Scott Andrews, the Odin of School there, mentioned they were in their 13th semester; inconceivable! The Wisdom of the Ancients was offered to us and we frantically jotted down the precious knowledge from these Elders. We returned humbled but on fire with our challenge.

[Fast forward] ...Welcome to OA Spring ‘02, or Semester 14, as we now record our own ancient history, honoring our own Elders--women and men on whose shoulders we are carried and who have left footprints on this land as they passed into our very own Eagle’s Nest folklore. It turns out that once upon a time, the Northern Elders were folks with dreams - just like us. The dedication and hard work of good people built their school, too. It wasn’t about immeasurable semesters passing into legend--apparently, time just flies-especially when you love your work.

I wonder if Scott felt that MCS was still young when Alex and I visited because The Outdoor Academy continues to feel formative and experimental to me. The exciting OA childhood of new discovery has passed, but so have the moments of immaturity and uncertainty as we learned to walk. We have settled into the framework of a

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time-tested schedule, true, but fresh and, even revolutionary, ideas are always welcomed and explored.

I can honestly say I’ve never experienced the feeling of “just another day at work” from any teacher here in seven years.

Well, there are lots of stories from our early days that we will always treasure and marvel at--our first semester of 14 students, two faculty living in Hamilton’s Hut and two more in Sikwayi... a campus without Wayah, Cheoah, Riverside, the Homestead or Berrypatch, Hurricane Opal, the old Cabins 8 and 10, sharing campus with the Birchtree program, and on and on.

Mostly, though, my OA memories are the people--sharing a path here with remarkable students and teachers and advisors. Three hundred and twenty-eight students have passed this way since 1995, but I’m still amused when I’m asked if I remember a particular student that attended here, because it is unthinkable that any of us could ever forget an OA student. I tell each semester that the OA faculty has taught the best--some of the finest folks we’ve ever met. Our poignancy in seeing kids leave this Nest each semester’s end is deepened by this knowledge. We are excited to send them along and grateful to call them friends.

But enough reminiscing. My next class awaits in this lifestyle of learning called The Outdoor Academy. The present is all we have, after all. My heartfelt thanks to all who have brought us to this day. Help someone onto your shoulders everyday.

Current Day: I get two questions here regularly; “Do you have a favorite semester?” (alums - if you need closure on this - “they’re all my favorite!”) and some version of “Have students changed over the years?” or “What is this generation like?” (Remember, our first semester alums are in their early 40s!) I think this is fueled by studies that report decreasing attention spans due to online childhoods, the attendant use of medications to address those attention deficits, and of course, the ubiquitous use and abuse of social media. Yes, I do recognize those trends and challenges. However, although OA students may be snowed under at home by screens, here we are overwhelmed by the general atmosphere of curiosity and enthusiasm and energy that these kids bring each semester. Our applications now typically include phrases like “I can’t wait to get off my phone.” So they are not as helpless or hopeless or unthinking as our culture would like us to think. Our students yearn for deep and personal friendships, relevant studies, and meaningful work, and that remains absolutely unchanged since 1995 – the internet, social media, gaming, and cell phones haven’t touched those core needs. So, for me - “have students changed over the years?” Not really - they’re still terrific.

How about the flip side - what’s changed for The Outdoor Academy? Mostly, I think these are changes to our campus. Eagle’s Nest Foundation has instituted some absolutely vital milestones during The Outdoor Academy’s 25 years, mostly because the extended Eagle’s Nest family has been very generous with their investments here. These grassroots efforts have funded much-needed additions to the EN campus; housing at Riverside (with its Little River acreage), Berrypatch, and Homestead, the Arts classrooms of Wayah and Cheoah in 2000 and 2001, the winterized Cabins 8 and 10, the new maintenance shop, and the brand-new Housing and Office Building (which is looking for a name, by the way!). Most importantly, we have bought and conserved

125 acres of forest and fields, a true investment in the future.

What about our curricula, our mission – certainly we must see an evolution there to continue to offer a relevant education. Well, in thinking about how to express perspectives across 50 semesters of The Outdoor Academy for this article and all the new and exciting academic developments and growth and change we’ve experienced, I just kept coming back to “maybe not...” I just don’t feel that we have traveled a great arc or journey of change. Actually, a few years back, we experienced a realization as a Foundation – the educational culture in our country has now made such a complete circle that the mission and traditions of OA are talked about as cutting edge. Never saw that coming!

The suggestion that perhaps our mission is timeless is very heartening to me. It goes to “getting it right” the first time. Almost lost in time now is a story of Helen Waite and Will Abberger around a campfire imagining a school at Eagle’s Nest in the rising smoke.

“If you build it, they will come” a ghostly voice intoned from the forest (to add to the legend). My point being that all the early voices of our founders and trustees, in fashioning this school and its mission, “got it right.”

We’ve never tasked a new director to overhaul or reinvent or modernize The Outdoor Academy; on the contrary, our simple mission continues to serve as a clear and practical touchstone.

And I believe that the word “simple” is key here.

Simple as in the fundamental truths of our Four Cornerstones of Intellect, Environment, Craft, and Community. Simple as in our Seven Principles of Work, Curiosity, Simple Living, Self-Reliance, Stewardship, Integrity, and Gratitude. Simple as in “what makes good people?” Yes, simplicity forces choices as we decide what we cannot or will not do, but then brings shared clarity of purpose, the capacity to accomplish, and joy in the work of community.

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And speaking of community, here’s a few other voices from the past 25 years: “As I finish this piece today on the eighteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and consider the complex and confounding problems that we have sown for this next generation to sort out, I cannot help but take solace in the fact that places like The Outdoor Academy exist. From what I have seen from OA students, they are up for it.”

-Glenn DeLaney, Outdoor Academy Director, 2018 - present “I have characterized our Leadership and Ethics Seminar as ‘new.’ In some ways, this is a fair characterization. We have introduced new classes into our Community Living and Outdoor Education curricula. Mostly, however, our seminar would be recognizable to every OA grad from Semester 1 forward. This is because...the OA is, and has always been, a premier school of leadership.” -Roger Herbert, Outdoor Academy Director, 2015-2018 “The hike back up to Ivester Gap and then out to Sam Knob, our revised campsite, was as tough as we expected, but our trek group was tougher. Occasional tears of frustration gave way to peels of self-deprecating laughter, gallows humor in the face of torrential rain, 30-knot gusts, and temperatures in the mid 40s. There was one moment during the early afternoon when the rain seemed to ease up a bit. I had the temerity to wonder out loud if the worst of it had passed. On cue, the skies reopened, delivering sheets of rain and inspiring ironic laughter. Sometimes all you can do is laugh...the fragility and weakness narrative is wrong because, time and again, OA students prove it wrong. Our soggy, shivering trek group, huddled on the wrong side of Grassy Cove Prong may have been miserable, but fragile? No way. We were invincible. We laughed at our situation, passed the Gummy Bears, and leaned into the wind and the rain. We arrived at our destination cold, wet, and exhausted, but with energy and determination to spare, bursting with pride in our accomplishment. Every OA graduate since 1995 can tell a similar story.”

-Roger Herbert, Outdoor Academy Director, 2015-2018 “They managed their own discussion, they heard each other, they built off of each other and most of all, they self-guided. I felt as if I’d become another member of the group. I was no longer needed in the typical “teacher” capacity. Maybe this is the essence of my role?”

-Chelsea Staunton, English Teacher, 2019 - present “On rare and special days, an original insight from an OA student arrives in a Natural Science discussion and I mean a perspective that is new to me even after 49 semesters. I have to stop the class so we can work our way through their logic, as it dawns on me that I have simply never heard this before. Astonishing.”

-Ted Wesemann, Natural Science and World History Teacher, 1995 - present “Summiting that mountain led to the discovery of my own leadership abilities. At the top, I recalled the fear and cautiousness that had plagued me before, and I promised myself I would not be scared anymore—scared of my friends, my education, my future, and, most importantly, myself.”

-Hannah Helmey Student, Semester 34

A short story to express one thing that I have never solved here. In one early semester, we had what I will call a challenging student; a “good kid”, as teachers often say, but one who generally bucked the rules.

Week after week we hoped to see the growth we knew would eventually come. The end of the semester came and that student drove away as I said to myself, I don’t know if we ever really did see the growth for this one.

But what does one do with the end of this story? A full year later that student unexpectedly arrived with some friends from home to show them where they had gone away for a semester. The alum took my arm and led me aside and tearfully said “I’m so sorry, I get it now. Thank you.”

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Growing Through the Programs

By Paige Lester-Niles, Camp Director

Eagle’s Nest is a special place; we hear it all the time. It shapes people’s values and changes lives. If you’re reading this, you probably agree, and I bet at some point you’ve called Eagle’s Nest “magical.” I believe that magic exists at Eagle’s Nest, but I also know that there’s a whole lot of intention behind making the magic happen. Part of that intentionality includes creating a progression of programs that our campers can grow within as they age through elementary school, into middle school, and eventually graduate high school. I think that Eagle’s Nest is unique in our ability to meet the various needs of school age children with programs that will challenge and excite them.

Our youngest campers start at Eagle’s Nest the summer after they’ve finished kindergarten. They love exploring the woods and creeks in search of fairies or crafting something out of clay. Leaving home for the first time, learning how to make friends (and their own beds), and trying new foods is a big step for them. As they move into elementary school and become more comfortable at camp, we encourage them to try new things – like classes that take them on outings, or Added Adventures like the Paleo Experiment that gives them the opportunity to live and camp primitively for a week in Pisgah National Forest. These opportunities help them grow in independence, confidence, and curiosity.

Middle school years can be challenging for some teens. At camp, being a middle schooler is an exciting time. As a CIT (Counselor in Training), our middle school campers can start taking classes that have previously been unavailable to them.

It is so fun to see how thrilled a teenager can be about signing up to take a stained glass or blacksmithing class! Our teenagers also take more advanced wilderness classes that take them on three-day rock climbing, backpacking, and canoeing trips, giving them the opportunity to learn new skills, stretch their comfort zones, “fail with support,” and find success.

The high school years offer “Top of the Mountain” – literally – experiences for our participants. Starting in the summer after 7th grade, teens can choose to participate in a Hante Adventure that can take them anywhere from a 14-day backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail to three weeks of hiking and sea kayaking in the Pacific Northwest or even on a cultural outdoor adventure across the ocean. Hantes give teens the opportunity to venture into the wilderness or into a new culture with a supportive group of their peers, push themselves harder than they ever have before, and, as a result, grow as an individual and feel immense pride in their accomplishments.

High schoolers who want to “expand their classroom” can apply to be a student at The Outdoor Academy during their sophomore year. The Outdoor Academy is an accredited academic semester school where students take academic classes and also spend significant time backpacking, rock climbing, and canoeing while learning leadership skills in a close knit community. The Outdoor Academy gives enthusiastic learners tools that help them continue to grow and thrive.

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Living the Mission

By Glenn DeLaney, OA Director & Michaela Hall, Marketing Manager

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Katharine Wilkinson In the spring of 1999, a sixteen-year-old from Atlanta penned an aspirational haiku: Want to help the world Be connected to the Earth Change the way I live.

Katharine Wilkinson, Semester 8, was confronted with the violence of human influence on nature during a backpacking trip at OA as she walked out of the woods into an area of clear-cut forest. She took the words written in her OA journal with her into her professional life to help drive her to work toward necessary changes to the way we interact with the world around us.

With a doctorate in Geography & Environment from Oxford, Katharine now works as the Communications Director for Project Drawdown, providing the world with a resource for climate solutions. She also approaches the climate crisis as a leadership crisis and is seeking to empower women to take more command of environmental issues.

“My perspective is that to change everything, we need everyone.”

Though the issues humanity is facing can feel truly heartbreaking, Katharine’s approach is to create a stronger community and champion a sense of collective purpose. Mary Oliver’s poetry, which she first read in the woods during English class at OA, still sticks with her as a source of nourishment and guidance as she pursues change for future generations.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

- Mary Oliver

As The Outdoor Academy entered its historic twenty-fifth year and the students of Semester 50 arrived on a dreary Saturday in January, I found myself studying their faces as they began working their way through the maze of opening day check-in stations. What’s really driving her to be here today? What is he most nervous about? How will they respond to the challenges they are about to face during a winter hike in the mountains with a bunch of strangers?

In the weeks preceding pre-semester faculty meetings and the long days that attend the start of a new term, I had been spending a great deal of time thinking about the students who choose to attend OA and the adults they grow up to be. I reflected on the dozens of incredibly interesting alums I have met since arriving at the school in 2018; indeed, hearing their stories about passions discovered and trajectories set during their time at OA always heightens the excitement of meeting a new semester cohort. Which of these students will be recognized in ten years for their innovative work with an emerging technology that will directly impact lives?

Which will one day lead the charge in the fight against climate change? Who will pen words that move and inspire those who will one day read them?

None of these daydreams about who our current students will become represents even a remote stretch of the imagination. This is what The Outdoor Academy alums are doing today, and every faculty member at this school fully understands that each new semester brings with it incredible potential to help a young person chart a course for their future. What’s more, researchers at the University of Utah have determined that the unique educational experience offered by a semester school plays a role in both accelerating the process by which students formulate and consolidate their identities and in developing intra- and interpersonal skills that they will need to pursue their dreams. Recently, we tracked down some OA alums to chat about how their time in Pisgah Forest impacted their academic and career paths.

Our alumni community includes teachers, a record-setting long-distance backpacker, non-profit directors, activists, scientists, novelists, NOLS instructors, filmmakers, university professors, farmers, a globetrotting digital nomad, doctors, artists, professional musicians, and on and on. It is comforting to know that forty-nine semesters’ worth of engaged, caring, forward-thinking people are out in the world and, as is our hope, living the mission of The Outdoor Academy and Eagle’s Nest Foundation in some way or another.

They are out there learning, working, and living experientially by diving in, embracing discomfort, and taking risks. They are appreciating, connecting with, and seeking to preserve the natural world, whether it is in their

“If you are fully alive, your students will be helped and will reflect that back to you.”

Ana Mifsud

Poetry is also an intrinsic part of life for Katharine’s Semester 8 classmate Leah Green. Writing was a spark she brought into her semester and then fanned over the course of her time at OA. She fondly recalls wanting the woods, poetry, and the alive-ness she felt at OA to always be at the center of life.

Leah’s forthcoming book of poetry, “The More Extravagant Feast”, was recently awarded the Walt Whitman Award by the Academy of American Poets. Her work explores the trophic exchanges between the land, her body, and her children’s bodies through pregnancy, childbirth, and early motherhood.

Skills she cultivated at OA, such as understanding a sense of place and landscape literacy, have deeply influenced her daily life, from homesteading to raising a family with a strong connection to the earth. She carries that ignited passion nurtured at OA into her own classroom at Washington & Lee University, where she teaches English and Environmental Studies.

Leah Green

Ana Mifsud attended Semester 32 full of academic intentions and a passion for the environment, but had not yet accounted for the missing link.

“I cared about these things in an intellectual way,” Ana recalled, “but had no relationship with the outdoors.”

Cultivating her intellectual curiosity while running through the woods in Ted’s science class, letting go of letter grades to make way for constant improvement, and learning to take risks as an integral part of self-growth are small parts of the OA experience that continued to propel her forward at the end of her semester, through college, and into an exciting career in microgrid technology.

As a Senior Associate with the Rocky Mountain Institute, Ana is tackling the climate crisis and promoting economic development in the Caribbean by transitioning energy systems from natural gas to a more-sustainable electric model. Her work bridging the gap between economic growth and preserving the earth landed her on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List for 2019.

research or their volunteer hours. They are bettering human character by setting an example of empathizing, pursuing justice, and pouring themselves into work for others.

We know that hundreds upon hundreds of OA alums have left this school armed with incredible aspirations to impact their communities and the world. That space between reality and aspiration, however, is where the truly challenging work takes place. As I watch our Semester 50 students struggle through a complex math problem on the Wayah deck or a crux move on a climbing route at Cedar Rock, I know that The Outdoor Academy is preparing them with the skills and the desire to face those challenges.

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Lunchtime with the DEI Committee

By Molly Herrmann, Camp Registrar and Camp Marketing Coordinator

Several months ago, I met with Niambi Jaha-Echols at a local restaurant in Winston-Salem. Niambi is a Cultural Agility Strategist, Author, Inspirational Speaker, and Transformation Advocate with whom Eagle’s Nest Foundation (ENF) has been working for the past year. Niambi and I met for lunch so that she could offer me some advice for the structure and purpose of the newly formed DEI Committee at ENF. Recently, I had been asked to head this committee, which was both exciting and daunting. At some point in the conversation, Niambi asked me to look around the restaurant where we were having lunch.

It is a casual restaurant with outdated décor and a wide-ranging menu of lower priced dishes. I grew up here in Winston-Salem, and this particular restaurant has been a staple of downtown Winston as long as I can remember.

As I surveyed the dining room, I noticed it was busy with the usual lunchtime crowd and low murmur of voices engaged in conversations. I saw tables occupied by men, women, children. Tables comprised of a variety of older people sitting across from younger people. Black people dining with white people. Some occupants were in crisp suits and ties; some were in ratty jeans and worn t-shirts. There were men in a couple dining together alone and women in a couple dining together alone. A group of college-age people of various races gathered around a large table laughing. And then there sat Niambi and me at our table eyeing the room. Niambi then turned to me and said, “What is it about this place that welcomes everyone?” I was stunned and not sure how to answer. I have come to this place since I was very little, and I

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never thought to ask that question nor to survey the occupants of the restaurant, taking into account their ages, races, genders, socioeconomics. But what is it about this place that makes all these various people feel welcome? Whether you were old, young, black, white, female, male, transgender, cis-gender, gender nonconforming, LGBTQ+, straight, quirky, professional, poor, wealthy. What is it about this place? There were no clear signs on the front that read “Everyone is welcome.” It was something about the atmosphere; it was not what was being said but what wasn’t being said. It was just an unquestioned feeling, a known. How could we do this at ENF?

“What is it about this place that welcomes everyone?”

Taking this experience and applying it to ENF, Niambi suggested looking at what might make people feel unwelcome at ENF. Why is it that at this restaurant in downtown Winston-Salem, all these various people feel welcome to come and spend their lunchtime here? How can we make ENF a place at which all people feel comfortable and want to spend their summer or school semester? How can we make ENF a place that is welcoming to all? After trying to answer this question for Niambi, the first thing I realized concretely is that simply saying we are welcoming is not enough. We have to create this atmosphere, this feeling, this known. In fact, saying it is the least likely path to achieving the sense of welcome and comfort we are seeking.

Niambi and I were meeting this weekday at lunchtime to talk about the DEI Committee that has been formed at ENF. Since that meeting with Niambi, we at ENF have formed a committee of ten employees (four from OA, two from Camp, three from Foundation, and one from Development) covering all programs. In an effort to establish a channel for formal involvement from among the lower level staff, committee involvement is voluntary and open to everyone on staff at ENF

except those in the Executive Council (Directors).

Since the initial formation, the DEI Committee has met monthly with an agenda containing action items and projects. Each project has ownership from one or two committee members. Ownership means ensuring the regular and timely advancement of a project by establishing a timetable, enlisting support where needed, and reporting on progress to the committee. Our process of project ownership ensures that, as a committee, we are optimizing the talents and skills from among our individual committee members. In our first month as a committee, we coordinated and implemented an ENF staff-wide diversity survey where we received 75% participation. We used this anonymous survey to construct a baseline demographics for diversity among ENF staff and faculty with questions pertaining to gender identity, socioeconomics, race, and disability. We intend to conduct this survey annually in an effort to track measurable DEI goals within the staff at ENF. Next, we sent this survey to all seasonal staff from the past two camp summers with the overlapping intention to construct a baseline demographics from which to work. We received 45% participation. We are also working on a similar demographic survey for camp and OA families. We created an online ENF Resource Library where all staff members are welcome to contribute and access resources related to DEI. And, in mid-December of 2019, we conducted an all ENF staff DEI training led by Niambi where we explored unconscious bias as well as design thinking related to a groundwater approach to DEI work at ENF. The Groundwater Metaphor is used by the Racial Equity Institute (REI) out of Greensboro, NC as a way to help visualize the systemic role of racism within the United States.

Currently, we have a group devising a proposal and action timeline for gender and housing on campus starting in the summer of 2021. This proposal addresses gender identity and transgender status with regard to housing for participants and staff. We are also concentrating on internal reviews related to employee satisfaction initiatives. We are reaching out to local organizations to make connections and widen our camper and student populations. And we are developing a Gear Lending Library whereby we collect donated gear to be used for Camp and OA as well as forging connections with retailers willing to donate gear. Mims Montgomery, our Assistant Camp Director, is disseminating more information on this so be on the lookout or reach out to her with any ideas at hante@enf.org.

Through the DEI Committee, I discovered the profound amount of talent and passion we are so fortunate to possess here at ENF among our staff. There is great energy and commitment to DEI work here. My main purpose as the head of the committee is scheduling our monthly meetings and taking care of the administrative end of agendas and note taking; the direction and goals of the committee are a joint venture taking into account input from every committee member. Each person’s perspective and input is weighed equally in all projects and proposals. As we continue in our meetings and move forward with our projects, ENF is slowly beginning to resemble lunchtime at that local haunt in downtown Winston-Salem with Niambi sitting across from me.

We are not there yet, but we will get there.

25 Reasons to Attend the OA 25th Anniversary 1. You will get to see Ted (who is also celebrating 25 years at The Outdoor Academy).

2. …and you’ll get to see the rest of the OA faculty, too.

3. Reconnect with classmates.

4. Reminisce about your time at OA while walking around campus.

5. See the new Housing & Office Building.

6. Join a work crew for old times’ sake – swing an axe, dig in the garden, or bake bread.

7. Circle up and sing a song!

8. Share your OA memories at the Story Booth.

9. Throw a Frisbee on the A-field.

10. Meet the current students of Semester 50.

11. Bid on Silent Auction items to take home a handmade treasure.

12. Pick up some OA swag.

13. Network with other alums.

14. Sing the Goodnight Song.

15. Dance to live music.

16. Enjoy a meal with classmates and faculty.

17. Walk to Morning Watch.

18. Share your OA experiences with your family.

19. Look at picture archives of OA’s history.

20. Celebrate 50 semesters and 25 years of OA with the collective alumnae group.

21. Drink tea and gather in the Sun Lodge den.

22. Attend a craft workshop.

23. Discover how much (or little) OA has changed since your semester.

24. Meet current OA faculty.

25. Give Thanks!

Postponed: New date TBD soon!

Visit www.theoutdooracademy.com for the latest updates.

Reach out to Camille Wick at camille@enf.org with any questions. 9

NEST CHATTER

Ben Rosenberg (Camp) and Emily Rosenberg: Baby Hank 2019

Reed Moore (OA) and Elizabeth Koenig (OA): Married on October 12, 2019

Walter Kucera (Camp & OA) and Caitlin Kucera (Camp): Baby Colin Moseley Kucera 2/7/20

Sarah Mackey (Camp,OA) and Brady Mackey (Camp, OA): Baby Parker Lily Mackey 1/31/20

Ana Sophia Mifsud (OA) – Named on “Forbes 30 Under 30 – Energy 2020” List

Eva Carter (OA) – Accepted early-decision to Davidson and will be attending in the fall 2020

Anna Lipton-Galbraith (Camp & OA): Baby Nell 12/8/19

Henry Yates (0A) – Accepted early-decision to Emory Oxford and will be attending in the fall 2020

Nate Byrd (Camp) and Steph Byrd: Baby Aiden 12/11/19 Claire Douglass (Camp & OA) and Gregory Campbell: Baby Dylan Claire Campbell 10/22/19

Bo Johns (Camp) married Michael James Hennessey on 9/28/19

Congratulations and best wishes to all of our wonderful, amazing alumni! It’s so much fun to see where you are in the world and hear about your adventures.

Do you have Nest Chatter to share? Send us a note about your life’s journey to our team: development@enf.org.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

Scott McKenzie (Camp) and Catherine Timmins McKenzie (Camp): Baby Alice Anne McKenzie 9/25/19 Melissa Rinzler (OA) – Accepted to Tufts University

Centennial Priorities Update

By Noni Waite-Kucera, Executive Director

In the year 2027, Eagle’s Nest will hit a remarkable milestone and celebrate 100 years of experiential education for young people. In 2014, trustees, faculty, and staff took months’ worth of research and advice collected from hundreds of alumni, friends, and donors into a planning retreat. This process produced four overarching centennial priorities to guide the Foundation towards a sustainable future. For the past 6 years, we have been hard at work ensuring steady progress on all fronts and are looking forward to new initiatives each year. This past year, we hosted Centennial Update gatherings in 14 cities across the country and heard from many of you about your excitement for our progress and suggestions for further growth. If you weren’t able to attend one of those gatherings, you can read more on our website under Foundation/Centennial Reports. Here is a glimpse of our progress this past year (2019):

Empowering Our Community of Educators

• Drafted and published Transcultural Commitment and Gender Inclusion Statements for ENF • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) assessment conducted by Niambi Jaha-Echols (see article p. 8) • Institutionalized Professional Development Growth

Plan for employees

Sharing Our Story

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Cultivating and Celebrating Our Place

• Deepened

work on our Sustainability Plan with new garden initiatives, and fine-tuned food and cleaning systems • Broke ground on our new Housing and Offices building with

completion scheduled for April 2020

Building Financial Resiliency

• Created the CIRCLES curriculum for OA (Community,

• Continued

use and refinement of the ENF Financial Identity, Relationships, Communication, Leadership, Ethics) Resiliency Plan • Hosted Alumni and Centennial update events across the country

• Surpassed 2019 Annual Fund goal and reached • Began planning for OA 25th Anniversary on April 25th, 2020 fundraising goals for the new building

Eva Carter (OA) – Accepted early-decision to Davidson and will be attending in the fall 2020 Henry Yates (0A) – Accepted early-decision to Emory Oxford and will be attending in the fall 2020 Bo Johns (Camp) married Michael James Hennessey on 9/28/19

Funding Priorities for a New Decade: 2020

By Cara Varney, Development Director

When I look back on the past five years of fundraising at Eagle’s Nest Foundation, I am astounded by the outpouring of support from our donors, alumni, and friends. Your donations have made the experiences of camp or OA a reality for so many young people, a gift that is truly unforgettable and helps to shape a community of change makers, leaders, and better humans. This past year, you collectively donated over $285,000, the most our Annual Fund has seen to date! This momentum in fundraising will propel ENF into the next 10 years, during which we hope to build more new structures on campus, support more scholarships, celebrate our centennial as an organization, and so much more.

As we transition into a new decade at 43 Hart Road, there are many exciting projects lined up to grow and continue supporting the operations of ENF. This year, we are moving forward on the work of our Sustainability Plan to include a look at energy usage. We hope to conduct an energy audit, update existing systems and spaces, and research the potential for solar power on campus. You can help with this project! If you or someone you know is in the renewable energy field, please reach out; we need your help.

In addition to a focus on sustainability, we are also expanding our fundraising by applying for more grants and larger sources of funding to support various projects. So far in 2020, we have presented projects for website updates

(including adding bilingual sections and forms), garden improvements, scholarships, and general program support.

While not all of these applications will be grant funded, we are excited to increase the ENF brand recognition and are committed to completing the proposed projects.

Lastly, as we continue our work on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), along with raising more scholarship funds and financial aid, we are improving the access to quality outdoor equipment, gear, and clothing for participants in need. By creating and organizing a Gear Lending Library, individuals will have the opportunity to borrow (or be given) items that can be costly, but are necessary for a successful outdoor experience (i.e. sleeping bags, rain jackets, backpacks, hiking shoes, etc.). If a financial commitment to your favorite camp/ school is not in the cards this year, I encourage you to consider what might be lurking in your basement or attic. Maybe you haven’t used that daypack or cooking set since college. We will gladly welcome donations of your gently used outdoor gear and have some easy ways to take it off your hands: Attend an ENF Alumni Event in your area! (see schedule on page 12) Stop by campus for a visit!

Mail any items to 43 Hart Road, Pisgah Forest NC 28768 Contact Mims Montgomery, Asst. Camp Director to arrange a pick up. Email her: hante@enf.org.

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Challenge Over Comfort Adventure Over Routine

Now enrolling for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 visit theoutdooracademy.com for more information.

Alumni Events 2020 Please join us at an alumni event in 2020 in your area! All alumni events will have a gear drive aspect, so dust off that sleeping bag you don’t use anymore, and bring it to an alumni event! Why? Because Eagle’s Nest Foundation is working on a brand new initiative: the ENF Gear Lending Library.

In an effort to make our programs more inclusive and accessible, the goal of the Gear Lending Library is to reduce the financial burden and remove any obstacles for campers and students to have a positive experience in the natural world by providing quality gear and clothing. We ask for your help in donating gently used outdoor clothing and gear so we can build the ENF Gear Lending Library and have quality items available for campers and students to use while they’re on campus.

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April 25 – Pisgah Forest, NC: OA 25th Anniversary Spring TBD – Washington, DC: Alumni Gathering Spring TBD – Triangle, NC: Alumni Gathering June TBD – Asheville, NC: Alumni Gathering August 17 – Pisgah Forest, NC: Oskar Blues Makin’ a Difference Monday September 24 – Winston-Salem, NC: Alumni Gathering September TBD – NYC/Brooklyn, NY: Alumni Gathering September TBD – Denver, CO: Alumni Gathering October 16-18 – Pisgah Forest, NC: OA Semester Leaders’ Council, ENC Reps, and ENF Board of Trustees Retreat November TBD – Atlanta, GA: Alumni Gathering

EAGLE’S NEST

CAMP

Summer 2020 Session One June 13th - June 26th K - 9th Grade Added Adventure: Paleo: Primitive Living Experiment 5th - 6th Grade Session Two June 28th - July 17th K - 9th Grade Added Adventure: Huck Finn 5th - 6th Grade Session Three July 19th - August 7th K - 9th Grade Added Adventure: Sea Islands 6th - 7th Grade Session Three B July 19th - August 1st K - 5th Grade Session Four August 9th - August 16th K - 9th Grade

@eaglesnestcampnc

HANTE ADVENTURES

2020 Hantes Step Out and Learn Hante Darwin June 13th - June 26th 9th - 11th Grade Hante Rocks and Rivers June 28th - July 17th 7th - 11th Grade Hante Spain June 28th -July 17th 8th - 11th Grade Hante AT Trek Virginia July 19th - August 7th 7th - 11th Grade Hante Pacific Northwest July 19th - August 7th 8th - 11th Grade

@hanteadventures 13

Wish List Spring 2020

Help us grow our Gear Lending Library! We are gladly accepting donations of gently used outdoor gear, equipment and clothing.

• Synthetic sleeping bags: 35 or below rating • Sleeping Pads (We’ll take any of these) • Rain Jackets: 100% waterproof • Rain Pants: 100% waterproof • Synthetic Shirts: Both Short Sleeved and Long Sleeved • Fleece Jackets: No cotton, 100% fleece • Fleece Pants: No Cotton, 100% fleece • Synthetic Puffy Jackets • Day Packs: Anything from a school backpack up

to a 35-40 liter small pack. No drawstring bags.

• Hiking Boots or Trail Running Shoes

• Nalgene water bottles: No straws or push/pull caps.

We are also always looking for household items, office supplies, volunteers, art/craft supplies, vehicles, and garden tools. If you would like to make a donation or have questions about an item, please reach out to Camille Wick, Donor and Alumni Relations Coordinator, Camille@enf.org.

Have you considered adding Eagle’s Nest to your Estate plans?

At Eagle’s Nest, our Sustainers of the Wheel are those who have elected to include Eagle’s Nest Foundation in their estate plans through bequests, gifts of life insurance and retirement plans, and other contributions made through their estate. These honored friends have found inspiration at Eagle’s Nest Camp, Hante Adventures, and The Outdoor Academy.

The benefits of planned giving are numerous to both you and future generations of campers, students, and adventurers at Eagle’s Nest and The Outdoor Academy.

If you would like to learn more about becoming a Sustainer of the Wheel, Eagle’s Nest Foundation’s development office is ready to assist with: General information about planned gift vehicles that Eagle’s Nest may accept.

Information about fund and endowment options to suit your philanthropic goals. Additional resources to help you make decisions.

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Contact Information: Cara Varney, Development Director Pisgah Forest Office cara@enf.org • (828) 877-4349