• NOTE FROM
A COUNseLOR
My experience as a counselor on OutWest this year was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. I had the most incredible time when I went as a student and when the opportunity to return to help make the experience as memorable for my younger brother and his friends as it was for me, I jumped at the chance. Surprisingly enough, on the trip I found myself wishing I had been a counselor prior to being a camper. As a camper I had no idea how much work went into every thing we did. As far as
How will I explain this to their parents? Will Southwest let them on the plane back home? Does tomato juice really work? These are the questions you ask when you are cowering at the bottom of your sleeping bag in a camp with fifty-two eighth graders surrounded by a herd of skunks. Fortunately, we still do not know the answers to these questions and the forty-third year of Ensworth OutWest ended with fond memories to last a lifetime. THE ADVENTURE BEGINS The OutWest Trip is a great example of leadership through experience. It instills an awe and appreciation of land and conservation, while challenging students to live outside of their comfort zone. Started in 1972 by Robert Inman, this eighteen-day camping adventure offered to Red Gables students finishing their eighth grade year continues to be guided by Inman’s values. Mr. Inman was astounded by the sheer vastness of our country and the extremes in climate 4 | ENSWORTH Ensights
and culture that one finds if you get in a car, roll down the window, and drive for long enough. He felt it was important for kids to not only learn about our country, but disconnect from the familiar and live for a short while in the unfamiliar. The fifty-two kids who participated this year left behind cell phones, beds, and showers and experienced sites like the Grand Canyon, The Narrows in Zion National Park, and the Tunnel Chute Rapid on the Middle Fork of the American River. It’s a landmark for Red Gables. Mr. Inman wanted to provide the kids with one last opportunity to be together as Red Gables students. The trip allows important ref lection on days spent together in classes or on the athletic field at Red Gables, and signals an essential transition into the next phase of life.
I knew food just appeared around dinner time and I occasionally had to help clean up after. I thought the Walmart stops were meant for me to grab some snacks or a few things I left at home, having no idea that the leaders were frantically running around the store trying to get food to feed us hungry teenagers up until the next stop. Whenever a teacher told us we could not climb to the tippy top of a very large bolder, I only thought of them being party killers, not of them being what they actually were, fierce protectors of our health and safety. The experience was life-altering, making me so thankful for the incredible leaders of the trip and the opportunity to be a leader to the students of the Class of 2018 that I am now forever bonded with and absolutely adore.
Keith Crowe Middle School Science Teacher OutWest Leader
— Susannah Byrd Class of 2014