RIGHT OF PASSAGE EXPERIENCE -Graduating Class Trip The class will travel together learning intense technical and interpersonal skills that are necessary for the success of their wilderness expedition. When these essential skills have been learned, students go through a “test” where they demonstrate their competence as a group in the areas of navigation, camp skills, teamwork, and a respectful relationship with the land. Having passed the test, students are then given an opportunity to symbolically pass from child- hood into adulthood by traveling without adults to their trip’s final destination; their “group solo.”

END OF THE YEAR CLASS TRIPS are celebrations of time together as a family of classmates. Through their journey, students reflect on the past years and look into the years to come. A wilderness challenge allows students to see qualities in their classmates that haven’t blossomed in the classroom environment. Studying and living close to nature helps students to focus on their future as the Earth’s stewards and brings a renewed enthusiasm for learning that will carry them through the summer and into the next school year.

COMMUNITY BUILDING TRIPS provide an opportunity for everyone to play a meaningful role in a true challenge. We are dropped off at a trailhead many miles from our pick-up spot. We must work together. We have to learn what everyone’s strengths are and utilize them to their fullest potential. We quickly learn each other’s weaknesses and learn how to accept people better: in the face of challenge, no one can hide behind the image of “who they’d like to be.” Everyone in the group is needed for all to succeed, and no one can be left behind. Tasks are clear and real: gather wood, make a fire, cook a meal: these things will make us warm. Set camp before the rain hits: this will keep us dry. Follow the map, learn your strokes, communicate with your partner: this will keep us safe and on track to our destination. Work your hardest, put other’s interests before your own and the journey will be blessed by a warm feeling of camaraderie. This very real life experience will have a profound effect on the level of teamwork and mutual respect in your class any time of year.

ACADEMIC TRIPS are set in nature’s own classroom with a boundless resource library of rivers, mountains and forests. Our teaching staff includes moose, eagle, bear, gnomes, trolls and other respected teachers. Some of the academic areas that can be incorporated into your trip include: ecology, geology, geography, cartography, meteorology, history, Native American studies, hydrology, creative writing, and nature drawing. Other topics of study can also be arranged. Kroka Expeditions’ teachers can teach an entire unit or enrich your classroom studies with hands-on experiences.