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Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Middle Schooler Ethan Sang takes a turn in the tree tops during a Thurston Middle School field trip to Canton's Treetop Adventures.
Thanks to Westwood Public Schools for contributing this article to Westwood Minute.
Soaring on a zipline high in the trees might not be your typical classroom setting, but that’s exactly where sixth-graders from Westwood’s Thurston Middle School learned some important lessons during a recent field trip to Tree Top Adventures in Canton.
“Many students find the middle school years to be challenging,” said Westwood sixth-grade teacher Lisa Yetman. “They are all coming from different elementary schools plus some are coming into our town for the first time. Add to that the normal challenges of adolescence and you can see why these can be difficult years to navigate.”
The idea behind the field trip was to provide the class an opportunity to bond early in their middle school experience. The 220 students are split into two teams – red and blue – and each team spent a day “learning the ropes” on the courses.
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. On the platform are students Jackson Bhatti and Ari Bern with teacher CJ Weinacht.First, students and teachers received safety training, learning how to properly work their harnesses. Then they were let loose to explore whatever level course they would like.
“As a teacher I often stand on the bottom and watch our students teach each other and cheer each other on,” said Yetman. “Our teachers get up and climb with them and it really levels the playing field. I love watching students help teachers through a course. It’s just a great bonding experience for everyone.”
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Thurston Middle School teachers CJ Weinacht, Jen Connor, Stephanie Reinert, Robin Bova, and Deb Impoinvil demonstrate high spirits from their time in the tree tops.Sixth-grader Delia Joyce said she liked supporting others as well as the support she received.
“I was doing a [difficult] course and I was in the lead,” recalled Joyce. “There was this choice if you wanted to keep on going or stop there and, being the leader, it was my call. I was very scared and didn’t know what to choose. Piper Harris was right behind me and told me to do whatever I wanted to do. I chose to keep on going. Piper helped me to build up my courage and cheered me on the whole way through.”
Thurston Principal Mike Redmon said Joyce’s experience demonstrates why this field trip is so important.
“We have five elementary schools that all come together for the first time in sixth grade, which becomes one class for the next seven years until they reach high school graduation, so providing them with an experience to bond together for the first time is important,” said Redmon. “As I climbed the trails with students, you could hear them bonding by how they were cheering and supporting one another to overcome the obstacles. It was really special.”
Sixth-grader Jackson Dufour had one of those special experiences. “Right when we got to Tree Top Adventures someone from another elementary school who I didn’t know helped me buckle my buckle tighter when it needed to be done, but I didn’t have the reach,” he said. “For the rest of the day I spent time with that same person going through hard obstacles and challenges which they helped me get through. It was a really good bonding experience."
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Student Henry Pickering (center) crosses a bridge suspended in the air.Yetman called the day heartwarming. “They are genuinely excited when their peers can do something,” she said. “Everyone leaves feeling good about themselves, but also proud of other people, too.”
