Students return from Nature's Classroom
By Angela Greiner Contributing Writer

PHOTO/SUBMITTED Chaperones and staff entertain JFK Middle School students at Nature's Classroom in Groton Woods.

Hudson - In dire need of some sleep, 148 of the 210 sixthgrade students from JFK Middle School arrived home Nov. 10 from four days and nights at Nature's Classroom. For the second year, the students left the school Nov. 6 for Groton Woods, one of 15 Nature's Classroom sites with sleeping facilities in Massachusetts and New York.

Assistant Principal Matt Gaff ny participated in the trip last year.

"It is a great experience for the teachers and to students to bond … and come away learning something new about themselves," Gaff ny said.

Nature's Classroom is a nonprofit organization that offers students and teachers the opportunity to expand their knowledge about the environment and about themselves. The organization breaks the students into groups and runs educational and team-building activities throughout the morning and evening.

Each afternoon, the students are allowed to pick from many special interest classes, which can include a social studies lesson in which they play traditional Native American games or a science lesson studying the aerodynamics of a boomerang. Two of the more popular activities for the Hudson crew included dissecting a shark and building a geodesic dome, a geometric structure, out of wood.

"The student's first response is that it was really great," Gaff ny said. "Yet, when you dig a little deeper, you discover just how much more they learned about nature and the environment."

Kevin Ducey, a student who attended, explained that they learned a lot and had a lot of fun. The activity he most enjoyed was pulling down dead trees with ropes so that they would decompose more quickly.

"We were all so excited about building a campfire," Kevin said. "After some time of searching for the perfect clear spot for the fire, they discovered that they forgot the matches."

"It is really nice because you get to see the students in a diff erent light," Gaff ny said. "When you are away for four days together, away from home and the classroom, you really get to know each other."

The activities at the program promote working as a team that in turn builds a community atmosphere. Gaffny explained that a positive experience combined with a strong feeling of community with the other students would create a safe learning environment for the children.

The students attend Nature's Classroom during the first session of the children's first year at the middle school, when they are meeting students from diff erent elementary schools.

"It sets a nice tone for the students for the next two years," Gaff ny said.

Although the trip is selffunded, the program is supported by individual donors who ensure that any student who wants to can attend the trip.

Tammy Ducey, a parent volunteer who has had two children go on the trip, explained that her job this year was luggage transport, which was made possible by the donation of a truck for the day from Robinson's Ace Hardware in Hudson.

"This is a huge help and it saves us a lot of money," she said.

Tammy said she believes that for a lot of the students it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"It is an interesting experience for the students to be away from school in a structured environment with their peers," she added.