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On the Path of Adventure

from Santa Catalina School Bulletin Winter 2022

from Santa Catalina School Bulletin Winter 2022, page 34

Meet Dr. Barbara Ostos

Panning for gold in a mountain stream. Ziplining through a redwood canopy. Walking in the steps of our nation’s founders.

Field trips are a fact of life at Santa Catalina Lower and Middle School.

Starting in prekindergarten, students venture off campus to see their classroom lessons brought to life and to engage with their community. In grades 4–8, these trips take on another dimension with overnight, outdoor experiences collectively known as the “Imagine Explore Become” (IEB) program: Students imagine what they can do, actively explore the world around them, and embrace experiences that help them become who they want to be.

IEB trips allow students to grow and learn outside the classroom in a non-academic environment. Most trips are connected to the curriculum, particularly social science and environmental science. They also encourage bonding through shared experiences. All of the trips promote personal development as students build life skills and push beyond their comfort zone. “Students are different when they come back from these trips,” says Christy Pollacci, head of Lower and Middle School.

The first big trip is also the longest running. For more than 20 years, fourth-graders studying California history have headed north to “gold country,” where they pan for gold, mine for gems, and tour a gold rush town. Grade 5 also has gone back in time, with a Revolutionary War–themed trip to Riley’s Farm in Southern California and a dose of maritime history aboard the nineteenth-century sailing ship Balclutha in San Francisco. This year, students will experience 1800s life at Fort Ross in Northern California.

Sixth-graders spend several days and nights ziplining and climbing among redwoods at Mount Hermon in the Santa Cruz Mountains. For many years, seventh-graders have visited Catalina Island Marine Institute. This year, they will head to the majesty of Yosemite National Park for five days and four nights. Finally, eighth-graders spend a week in Washington, D.C., touring museums and monuments, meeting their local representative, taking in a baseball game, and much more.

For many of these field trips, the experiences add context to classroom lessons and deepen students’ understanding of the material. Grade 4 teacher Michele Morton explains that the overnight trip to gold country and other California history trips help students see history as “one big, long story” rather than just a dry collection of facts. And, just as students are able to experience history as a series of real events that involve real people, they are also able to see that science is something that happens in the real world, not just in a lab. It’s one thing to mimic the erosion of limestone using chalk and vinegar; it’s another thing entirely to stand in a limestone cave that has been carved away by acid rain.

Beyond academics, IEB trips create memorable experiences that bring students closer together. The sixth-grade Mount Hermon trip is largely about team building; students support each other as they zip from tree to tree, climb to dizzying heights, and jump from high platforms. In recent years, the Middle School has offered Saturday adventures that, while not always overnight, lean in to the outdoor element of the IEB program. Students have camped, hiked, surfed, kayaked, and taken a day trip to Alcatraz. These outings, offered once a trimester, provide opportunities for students to get to know those in other Middle School grades. Students also learn how to take chances. Middle School science teacher Kelly Miller, who supervises the Mount Hermon and Saturday adventures, comments, “It’s about pushing yourself to try something different and new that might be scary, and seeing that you can succeed.”

No matter the trip, students gain valuable life skills—starting with simply being away from home. They learn how to share space, be considerate of others, and make responsible choices. Students even learn lessons when preparing for the trips. In the fundraising phase—when students sell baked goods and wrapping paper and ask for donations—they learn how to make change, interact with grown-ups, and present themselves in a way that says, "This is important to me."

Ultimately, says Middle School Director Maria Canteli, the experiential trips are part of Santa Catalina’s mission to educate the whole child. “The most important learning happens when students face different challenges and learn how to overcome problems away from home," she says. "It’s a time to learn about friendships, responsibility, and resiliency.”