8th Grade Students Explore Eastern Seaboard during 14-day Trekkers Expedition

8th grade Trekker students and leaders watch the sun set over Lake Ontario in Youngstown, NY, during their 14-day expedition throughout the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic.

Rockland, Maine - This month two groups of eighth graders from Oceanside High School and St. George School each participated in a two-week expedition with Trekkers, a youth-serving organization that connects young people and caring adults through expeditionary learning. The groups met throughout the school year to design their unique itinerary incorporating five educational components: wilderness exploration, community service, environmental stewardship, adventure-based education and cultural awareness.

Alongside adult mentors from the community and several 11th and 12th graders serving as student leaders, the students rode the green and white Trekkers bus during their journey full of new experiences and adventure. Team Griffin traveled through the Green Mountains of Vermont to Pittsburgh, PA, where the group saw the 4th of July fireworks, caught a Pirates game and visited Hershey Park. They also made many other stops including splelunking near the border of West Virginia, visiting a Buddhist center, seeing a solar farm, touring Amish Country and riding the refreshing Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls. Team Phoenix also covered much ground during its 14-day trip. First heading to Vermont, the group swam in Lake Champlain and visited Heartbeet Camphill farm. Next they set off for Philadelphia, volunteering at Philabundance, the largest soup kitchen in the area. After visiting Gettysburg, PA, Team Phoenix also stopped at Hershey Park for some roller-coaster rides, went whitewater rafting in Charlemont, MA, visited a Zen Buddhist center in Ipswich, MA, and more.

“2012 is the first year that Trekkers, amid our six-year program expansion, has offered the 8th grade program to two groups of students from the six communities of RSU #13,” commented Program Manager Meredith Lynt. “As a result, more students and more communities benefitted from this opportunity. It’s an exciting time in our evolution as an organization.”

The 8th grade program expansion was supported, in part, by a $5,000 grant from the Maine Community Foundation’s Knox County Fund. By 2016 Trekkers plans to have 240 7th -12th grade students enrolled in its six-year program.

You can see pictures and read the trip logs from the expeditions by visiting www.trekkersonline.com and following the links to the Advanced Trekkers page. You can also view more photos by visiting Trekkers’ Facebook page: www.facebook.com/trekkersonline. If you’d like to learn more information regarding Trekkers in general, please call (207) 594-5095.