by Dennis Harter, MS Principal
dennish@isb.ac.th
In the past two weeks we have sent our first groups of grade 7 students to our Environmental Wilderness Campus (EWC) for our Wild Panther Outdoor Education program. The program involves 3 Day/2 Night trips for students in all grades with a different focus and program each year.
With the campus closure in March of last school year, our grade 6 students (except for one group) missed out on their chance to participate in this program. So starting this year with trips was a wonderful way to start their 7th grade year.
Of course, the Wild Panthers team has put in safety measures throughout the program and venues, with distancing, divider shields, mask-wearing rules, and other guidelines in place.
To see the program and safety measures firsthand, I joined the first trip two weeks ago.
The students had a terrific experience. Honestly, it was great just seeing them in the outdoors again. Students navigated their groups using compasses and maps, hitting checkpoints and taking turns with leadership. They took on responsibility by belaying each other rock climbing on real rock. The demonstrated courage by abseiling and rock climbing in real, natural conditions, trusting their classmates, their instructors, their equipment, and themselves. And the students developed their understanding as they learned about the story of the local community and interacted with the monk who runs the temple near by our climbing site.
Wild Panthers is a wonderful experience that we are happy to have our students doing again. Our ISB Outdoor Ed teachers are happy to be working with students again and our EWC staff are happy to have residents on site.
We hope your child is looking forward to their Wild Panthers trip in the coming year.