On Thursday, September 7th, the senior class of ‘24 packed bags and suitcases onto buses and departed from Fieldston for their overnight rafting trip. The rafting trip is a more recent Fieldston tradition, where seniors can reconnect with friends who haven’t seen each other over the summer and have fun before embarking on their senior year. We also go to see many teachers that we haven’t seen over the summer, like Dr. Heideman, Mr. Wearn, Ms. Repole, Mr. Chu, Mr. Waldman, and of course, Dean Stephanie Harris.
Dean Harris: I felt a sense of excitement, as well as a hope that everyone would be safe. In my role as Dean, I feel incredibly responsible for the seniors. It probably wasn’t until we were on the rafts that I was able to breathe easily and enjoy the smiles and laughs and the joy on all of their faces because I knew it was a successful trip.
Our buses dropped us off at Iroquois Springs in Rock Hill, where we settled into our cabins and waited for lunch. The cabins circled a grassy common where people were playing spike ball, throwing around a football and a frisbee, and hanging out on the cabin benches. Right after eating, we took group photos with our senior shirts (which definitely took longer than they should have). Once our photos were taken, there were a variety of afternoon activities to partake in: volleyball courts, tennis courts, a pool, a basketball court, an indoor gym and a lake where we could kayak or paddleboard. The pool was one of the most populated areas, with rogue volleyballs from multiple games and people sitting on the edges of the pool trying not to get pushed in or splashed.
After dinner, we all went back to whatever activities we were most invested in and waited for 7:30, when we were supposed to have a campfire. I was playing Uno with my friends when the rain clouds started to roll in. We all trudged into the theater and continued playing, but by the time 7:00 rolled around, we weren’t sure if there would even be a campfire. As we saw the lightning and heard the thunder, it seemed that our plans for a campfire were foiled.
The storm was, admittedly, beautiful. Even though we took videos and photos, nothing could truly beat the wonder of seeing the lighting in person crack open the sky with vibrant pink and purple hues.
In place of the campfire, we had a dodgeball game and s’mores. If anyone has grown up at Ethical, you know how heavily they prevented us from playing dodgeball, so I was stoked — maybe too stoked. It was a lot of fun, and walking back in the rain was surprisingly enjoyable, as was hanging out with cabin mates. Before curfew hit, the teachers went around to verify that we were all in our cabins. Everyone had to get up pretty early the next morning, so we “definitely” didn’t stay up late talking and playing games.
On the morning of the 8th, everyone packed their bags and waited for breakfast. We would load our bags back onto the buses and head to the Delaware River, where we would be whitewater rafting. We picked up our life vests at the end of the river and then drove to the starting point. At the start, we were instructed on how to swim in the water safely and how to raft. Each raft consisted of six people and the total trip time was three hours — less if you were trying to go fast.
I’ve never been whitewater rafting, but I have to say I’d be game to go again. We swam in the river for a little, played a lot of 20 questions, did our best to avoid rocks and branches, and talked about our upcoming courses. We saw a tree with a bunch of cloth strips tied to it, and two mating dragonflies landed on our raft. We watched some other kids jump off a tire swing that was far too low and watched one of the rafting staff jump off a rock formation next to the river.
When all was said and done, we hung up our life vests, had our lunches, changed, and headed back to Fieldston and Ethical. I’d summarize the trip in three words: rafting, s’mores, and thunderstorms. Others saw it differently. For Selma Mahmud it was loving her cabin in the pouring rain. For Josh Perez, it was being thrown off the raft by Kofi. Cyrus Klinenberg “just chilled and floated down the river.” For Nikash Dash, it was playing volleyball and catching up with friends.
The college process was not mentioned once.
