East Grand student reflects on experiences and memories

My Years in Outdoor Ed
By Mitchell Bartlett
    I’ve been in Outdoor Education for four years now; four years of challenges and experiences that I will remember for the rest of my life. My first year, I was excited about joining the program, but I felt nervous when they mentioned that canoeing was something we were going to do. Up until then, I’ve only been in a canoe once or twice when I was little and I thought that they would flip really easily.
    It took a few weeks for me to get even a little comfortable in a canoe, and by then, we were getting ready for our annual St. Croix trip. I was really nervous, because I knew the river had whitewater on it and that worried me. As we went down the river, we went over the first rapid and I thought that was easy. But after that rapid, we started hitting harder rapids that had us dodging a lot of rocks and even occasionally getting stuck on rocks. I was still nervous, but I was getting more confident than before.
    I had a fun time the first day, but I still felt nervous about the Little Falls rapid that I knew we had to do the second day. The way some of the kids and Dave were talking, it was a big rapid and we had to scout it first before we did it. When we got to Little Falls the next day, I automatically told myself that I wasn’t going to do it. Even though today I don’t think of Little Falls as being that bad, at that moment, it looked huge and intimidating. Dave was trying to get me to do it, but I refused every time. Finally he gave up and told me that if I didn’t do it I would always regret it. I thought it over and after a while decided I should do it. So I walked that long pathway up to the top of the rapid and told Dave ‘I will do it.’ I’m so glad I decided to do it and think of that moment as a big milestone in my life. It was one of the moments that helped conquer my fears of canoeing and whitewater.
    Ever since then I have done so many things and gained a lot of experience.
    One of my favorite memories is the Bonaventure River Trip. I have done the trip twice. The Bonaventure is an 80-mile, whitewater river up in Quebec, Canada. The water is so clear and green that you can see really far down. The whitewater was really fun and every day brought new sights and adventures. Some days we had to work together to get the canoes over trees. Other days we went over drops. The Bonaventure was one of my favorite trips and I hope I can do it again in the future.
    Another thing about Outdoor Ed I loved doing and will continue to do in my future is canoe racing. I have done 21 races over my four years of high school. It can be really tiring especially since you have to continuously paddle for miles and miles, and sometimes over a lot of flat-water, but when you finish you feel like you accomplished a lot.
    One of my favorite races is the Kenduskeag. It is the biggest race in New England. It is a 16.5-mile race with 10 miles of flat-water and the rest being whitewater. You get tired pretty quick, but if you want to do good you have to keep on pressing on and hard. It doesn’t help that you have to do two mandatory portages near the end, especially since your arms are about to give out. But when you finish you feel so good because you know how hard you worked and that you did that 16.5 miles. Dave Conley and I got 14th place this year out of hundreds of boats. Knowing that makes me feel really good because I remember how much I didn’t like being in a canoe my freshman year and now, four years later, I accomplished this feat. Canoe racing is one of my favorite sports and I will continue doing them for the rest of my life.
    These are only a few of the many experiences I have experienced in Outdoor Ed. It has helped me in so many ways and I’ve done many things. It has exposed me to many fun things, like skiing, canoe racing, canoe trips and such. It has helped me get out of my comfort zone and do so many things I wouldn’t have done before. I have become a better leader and teacher. It has helped me meet new friends and new people.
    Outdoor Ed is one of my favorite classes and has been a big part of my life these past four years. Outdoor Ed isn’t just a class where you learn about the outdoors and do fun activities, it’s where you gain experiences and memories that you will remember for the rest of your life.