By Felix Dowsley, Boys Program Director
Before I became Program Director and committed my summers to spreadsheets and carpet-walking, I had a very special 4th of July tradition: camping with FBRA students in the woods of Kentucky, climbing the world-class sandstone found in the Red River Gorge. With a trailer full of ropes, climbing shoes, iced-down Ale-8 (if you know, you know), and the well-thumbed FBRA copy of Ray Ellington’s Red River Gorge South guidebook, we climbed until our fingers couldn’t hold a water bottle and feasted on Miguel’s famous pizzas.
Nora Randolph, Leanne Chapman, and Mitch McCune carry on this remarkable tradition, leading the famed FBRA summer climbing trip. Additionally, our overnight Advanced Kayaking, Mountain Biking, and Backpacking took students beyond our typical programming zones, while our Beginning Kayaking and Intermediate and Advanced Solo Canoeing trips launched day missions from campus. Finally, our open-enrollment Salamander Adventure Camp served local fifth grade students, giving them a dip into the watershed in salamander style.
What I love so much about our summer programming is that it allows students to go deep on their passions with other students who are absolutely stoked to be sharing in that adventure. Teachers have the time and space to teach skills that are difficult to include in regular field lesson programming. And– it’s summer time. There’s probably ice cream involved.
In many ways, summer programming is a second helping of the FBRA secret sauce– that teachers and students form relationships through shared experiences far beyond the walls of the classrooms. When I taught Language Arts, I especially loved adventuring in the summer with a student who I challenged hard through the academic year. Above all, summer programming reminds us that there’s something very special about loading up a cooler and hitting the road with a committed crew. I hope that every FBRA alumni dreams up their own summer road trip to match one they took as a student. And if they take one to the Red, they just might have to share a rope with one of their teachers, too.