Off-Campus Trips Build Confidence and Camaraderie for Ellis Middle Schoolers
For fifth grade Class President Aura Sloan and her classmates, an overnight school trip to Camp Lutherlyn started with nerves—but ended with a lot of great stories.
The trip is a rite of passage for Ellis Middle School students, who will go on to have a unique, off-campus class experience during each of their middle school years. Many students embark on those adventures with the same nervous excitement Aura felt, and quickly bond in their class communities as they take on challenges together.
Middle School Division Head Jenn Moynihan said it’s fun to take kids outside of the day-to-day classroom routine early in the school year and let them experience something new and exciting. This also allows them to work with and show support for each other outside of their normal environment.
“Even during the more individual activities, you’ll hear them all cheering each other on,” she said. “It’s exciting to see them stepping outside of their comfort zones and being cheered on by classmates who are also outside of their comfort zones. You can feel the support in those moments.”
In sixth grade, students spend a day at Ligonier Camp and Conference Center to participate in cooperative games and educational exercises. Seventh graders build community during a day of activities at The Dragon’s Den in Homestead, and eighth graders visit Camp Guyasuta in Sharpsburg for team-building and leadership activities, including a popular ropes course.
All of the trips happen within the first month of school, and all require teamwork. Each experience also reinforces the importance of taking healthy risks in safe ways, being in tune with yourself and knowing your threshold, and helping classmates gauge that for themselves as well.
“We want our girls to be fearless, but we also want them to be reasonable and responsible human beings,” Ms. Moynihan said. “Especially with middle schoolers, overnight trips like Lutherlyn increase their sense of independence. They know their Ellis adults are there for them, but they also learn that they can do challenging things.”
For many students, including Aura, Lutherlyn is the first time they spend the night away from home. She said it was “exciting but also kind of bittersweet,” because she was excited to go but knew she would miss her mom and her house. Many of her classmates felt the same, but they bonded by playing Uno in their cabin and telling funny stories, and learning songs around the campfire. They also did a lot of team-building and activities that build on the 5th grade curriculum, including tree identification, an archaeological dig at a real site, a geology hike, a night sounds hike, water testing, and more—and they learned to use compasses and microscopes in the process. “I loved the big hike,” Aura said, “We saw a bunch of different rocks and learned about them, and I told my mom about that when I got home. It made me feel a lot stronger and a lot more experienced.”
Grade 5 Dean Amy Sidari, who teaches Middle School English and History and is one of the Lutherlyn chaperones, said the trip is a great way for teachers to work alongside the students and participate in the team building activities. It helps the teachers learn about students outside of the classroom setting, and it also prepares students for experiences in older grades that will require them to be more independent.
“We kind of condition them starting in fifth grade about being independent and being away from home,” she said. “I think it really helps their independence quite a bit. You see a difference in the way they carry themselves.”
It shows in older students, who feel more confident to take on challenges like those they encounter at Dragon’s Den.
Seventh graders Claire Janavitz, Josie Fairman, and Laiken Cvercko said visiting Dragon’s Den with their class made them feel like they could do the zipline and ropes courses because they were in it together.
“We were all cheering each other on,” Josie said. “When Laiken was doing the ropes course, there were some scary parts that I was scared of, too, and I would yell ‘you got this’! And the teachers were always there and were very good at talking people through when they got stressed.”
Josie said it was a judgment-free zone, and that even if students didn’t complete the challenge courses, Ellis girls stepped up to encourage them. Laiken said it’s a good way for them to welcome students who are new to Ellis, too. And, it reinforced what they already do in the classroom—helping each other with homework and nudging each other to try tackling assignments and activities they might feel nervous about at first.
They are now looking forward to many other experiences this year where they will not only get to work closely with their own class, but will connect with students in other grades.
“We have UpStreamPgh in the spring,” Josie said, describing an upcoming event in which Ellis fourth and seventh graders will work with the organization to plant trees and pick up trash near Duck Hollow along the Monongahela River. “And we have the tea party with our [grade 5] sister class, so I’m looking forward to those things.”
Back
Middle School Division Head Jenn Moynihan said it’s fun to take kids outside of the day-to-day classroom routine early in the school year and let them experience something new and exciting. This also allows them to work with and show support for each other outside of their normal environment.
“Even during the more individual activities, you’ll hear them all cheering each other on,” she said. “It’s exciting to see them stepping outside of their comfort zones and being cheered on by classmates who are also outside of their comfort zones. You can feel the support in those moments.”
In sixth grade, students spend a day at Ligonier Camp and Conference Center to participate in cooperative games and educational exercises. Seventh graders build community during a day of activities at The Dragon’s Den in Homestead, and eighth graders visit Camp Guyasuta in Sharpsburg for team-building and leadership activities, including a popular ropes course.
All of the trips happen within the first month of school, and all require teamwork. Each experience also reinforces the importance of taking healthy risks in safe ways, being in tune with yourself and knowing your threshold, and helping classmates gauge that for themselves as well.
“We want our girls to be fearless, but we also want them to be reasonable and responsible human beings,” Ms. Moynihan said. “Especially with middle schoolers, overnight trips like Lutherlyn increase their sense of independence. They know their Ellis adults are there for them, but they also learn that they can do challenging things.”
For many students, including Aura, Lutherlyn is the first time they spend the night away from home. She said it was “exciting but also kind of bittersweet,” because she was excited to go but knew she would miss her mom and her house. Many of her classmates felt the same, but they bonded by playing Uno in their cabin and telling funny stories, and learning songs around the campfire. They also did a lot of team-building and activities that build on the 5th grade curriculum, including tree identification, an archaeological dig at a real site, a geology hike, a night sounds hike, water testing, and more—and they learned to use compasses and microscopes in the process. “I loved the big hike,” Aura said, “We saw a bunch of different rocks and learned about them, and I told my mom about that when I got home. It made me feel a lot stronger and a lot more experienced.”
Grade 5 Dean Amy Sidari, who teaches Middle School English and History and is one of the Lutherlyn chaperones, said the trip is a great way for teachers to work alongside the students and participate in the team building activities. It helps the teachers learn about students outside of the classroom setting, and it also prepares students for experiences in older grades that will require them to be more independent.
“We kind of condition them starting in fifth grade about being independent and being away from home,” she said. “I think it really helps their independence quite a bit. You see a difference in the way they carry themselves.”
It shows in older students, who feel more confident to take on challenges like those they encounter at Dragon’s Den.
Seventh graders Claire Janavitz, Josie Fairman, and Laiken Cvercko said visiting Dragon’s Den with their class made them feel like they could do the zipline and ropes courses because they were in it together.
“We were all cheering each other on,” Josie said. “When Laiken was doing the ropes course, there were some scary parts that I was scared of, too, and I would yell ‘you got this’! And the teachers were always there and were very good at talking people through when they got stressed.”
Josie said it was a judgment-free zone, and that even if students didn’t complete the challenge courses, Ellis girls stepped up to encourage them. Laiken said it’s a good way for them to welcome students who are new to Ellis, too. And, it reinforced what they already do in the classroom—helping each other with homework and nudging each other to try tackling assignments and activities they might feel nervous about at first.
They are now looking forward to many other experiences this year where they will not only get to work closely with their own class, but will connect with students in other grades.
“We have UpStreamPgh in the spring,” Josie said, describing an upcoming event in which Ellis fourth and seventh graders will work with the organization to plant trees and pick up trash near Duck Hollow along the Monongahela River. “And we have the tea party with our [grade 5] sister class, so I’m looking forward to those things.”
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