Highlander Mountain Day Trip!!!

I had the pleasure of joining Highlanders 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students on their Traditional Mountain Day Trip. On the Friday morning of the trip I arrived to highlander around 7am on my bicycle and as I passed the cafeteria window I could see the students playing around through the window with excitement for the trip. As I walked into the cafeteria some students ran up to me and we began conversing about the trip and their expectations for the day. Some of the 6th grade students told me that they wanted me to be the group leader for a specific group that was going up the mountain.  Arriving to Wanchusett Mountain and preparing to hike up the mountain was quite interesting, seeing all these students hiking together as a team and working to support each other to ensure the safety and success of the trip was amazing. Some of the highlights of the trip was when the group of kids that I was with made a song and we chanted it as we reached the top of the mountain to indicate that the best group had arrived. During lunch some of the kids was excited to see live fish in the pond and for some who observed the horizon of Worcester found it breathtaking. 

One of my 6th grade students had hurt his knee so I had the opportunity to use my first aid training to bandage his knee and while hiking down the mountain another one of my 6th grade students slipped and slightly bruised his leg in which I bandaged him up as well. What was really touching was observing how his classmates came to his aid and guided him down the mountain the remaining way. As we got closer to the beginning of the mountain we chanted the song again letting everyone know that the best group had arrived. It was an exceptional experience to see kids in an environment that they are not custom too and be able to adapt not only to the environment but surpass,the challenges they endured during the way; fighting through fatigue, the weather, and swarming bees. I was happy to see the students band together as a unit and support each other going up and coming down the mountain.