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This Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning I had the privilege of being with our 8th graders and their advisors (along with three parent chaperones) on the Class of 2015's Wilderness Adventure outing.
Wilderness Adventure at Eagle Landing, as its name suggests, is an outdoor recreation center, near New Castle, Virginia, set along a fine stream in a valley in the Jefferson National Forest. During their four days there the 8th graders participate in everything from high ropes and a 900-foot mountain zip line to canoeing and kayaking to rock climbing and spelunking.
It is fitting that the Wilderness Adventure program, one of the 8th graders' final class activities, combines learning and play outdoors and learning to handle, in large part through collaboration, new experiences and physical and emotional challenges.
The class of 2015 was divided into 'Earth,' 'Wind,' and 'Fire' groups, and I was embedded with 'Earth' for my brief portion of the trip. Following a lovely and easy canoeing experience Tuesday afternoon that included a rain shower, Wednesday morning the 'Earth' group, working in pairs, participated in a cooperative and demanding high ropes challenge. The element consisted of six horizontal telephone pole logs suspended vertically in increasingly wider intervals, from maybe four to seven feet apart, and spanning from the lowest, at about three feet off the ground, to the top log at a height of perhaps 25 feet, with a little rope dangling from seemingly nowhere about four feet above the top log. The goal....if nerve and ability allowed...was to ascend and stand atop the top log and grab the little rope. (There was no other means of balancing on the top log.) It was an intimidating and physically difficult challenge. It was clear from the start that few if any of the students could master it alone. The climbers worked on belay - protected from a fall of more than two feet via safety climbing lines manned by four classmates per climber. Some pairs made it to the top, but some did not. And it was acceptable for a person or pair to opt out at any time in the climb, or all together. Some individuals and pairs struggled for many minutes; one pair worked for an hour to reach the top. While height, strength, athleticism, previous climbing experience and greater comfort with heights were potential advantages, what mattered more was collaborative problem solving and a willingness to work together, without judgment. Successful pairs focused on the shared goal of both partners making it to the top and what each could offer in a given moment, as bodies and minds allowed... Partners experimented on how to get themselves to the next log, and they swung each other up to the next log, or knelt and created a human step ladder. They pulled a partner's arm or leg and pushed each other's tushes; they tried not to kick each other's faces, but did not complain when it happened... Those on the ground shouted encouragement and ideas.
Together, these students demonstrated that this Class of 2015 is like a band of brothers and sisters, in the best ways: They know one another's greatest talents, strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and they are appropriately respectful and supportive. Not too worshipping of the strengths and appropriately sensitive to the vulnerabilities! Thus, the attitude during this challenge was 'working together, whatever it takes.' The Class of 2015 know themselves and their classmates well. They know how to stretch, sometimes literally, to their personal bests but also how to nurture the best from others. That makes me feel very good as their Head of School!
Next Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Gym, our 8th graders graduate. You are invited to attend. It is always a student-designed, student-focused ceremony that celebrates the talents and character of the class. Adults' roles are minor. If you have not attended a Burgundy graduation I encourage you to do so this year.
Jeff Sindler
Head of School | 
We are delighted to report that this year's auction grossed $147,309 (unaudited). The net proceeds of $123,981 will go directly to student financial aid at Burgundy and help maintain the diversity that benefits all members of the Burgundy community. Thank you to our outstanding auction co-chairs Jacqueline Norris and Nancy Weissman, and to all of the students, parents and friends, faculty and staff, as well as members of the business community, who helped to make our 2015 auction a success.
