The fall Odyssey trip, a school tradition for 35 years, has been canceled for the 2012-2013 school year. Due to students’ busier schedules, not enough people signed up to merit the trip.
“Our students are stretched thinner and thinner, and being out of class for a week feels difficult for some students,” US English teacher and trip leader John Wensman said. “So, we have had less demand for the trips than ten years ago.”
However, there is a lot of interest in a winter Odyssey trip. Winter trips used to be run almost every year, but not for the past four years. “I’ve got four or five students strongly interested, so I’m hoping we get a winter and a spring,” Wensman said. While the spring and fall Odyssey trips consist of backpacking in Southern Utah, the winter Odyssey entails skiing and snowshoeing in Northern Minnesota.
Junior Michael Wilkens, who signed up for the fall Odyssey, speculated about the lack of interest: “[it is a] bad time with school to go on the trip,” he said, but Wilkens is still committed to go on the trip this year. “Winter Odyssey will be so much better.”
Odyssey trips consist of three parts: the expedition with instructors, the solo (two days and nights for which each student is alone), and the final expedition without instructors. Students learn to work together as a group, self-sufficiency, leadership skills, and of course wilderness skills such as recognizing and assessing weather, travel conditions, and potential risks, and first aid.
The solo is considered to be the most memorable part of the trip. “I felt as if I was alone, but it wasn’t like I was completely alone in a big canyon. It was like we were all kind of doing a solo thing together,” said senior William Brower. The solo is a time to learn and think about contemplation, isolation, and self-sufficiency.
To gain experience, students go through a nine-week training course for instruction in the use, packing, and purchase of equipment and food, physical conditioning, first aid skills, group dynamics and personal goals. The group spends a preparatory “shakedown” overnight trip at Afton State Park before departing for the trip.
The spring Odyssey trip will take place March 22-30, and sign-ups are open now for both the winter and spring trips. For more information, contact Wensman or US English teacher Haseena Hamzawala.