The Eagle| Spring 2006 | The Eagle’s Nest Foundation Newsletter | ||
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Editor’s CornerOur lives are filled with connections on every level and at every turn. We have dedicated this spring 2006 edition of The Eagle to the spirit of connection. Whether it is rekindling old connections at camp every summer, expanding our sense of connection to the natural world while hiking up the creek behind Indian Village, or exploring new connections to learning and academics at The Outdoor Academy, connections are a web that surrounds us. Each strand of the web shapes us, helps us grow, brings us joy and challenges and most of all makes us who we are. I would like to thank the staff and alumni of Eagle’s Nest for their contributions to this publication and I invite each of you to explore the connections within.
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Barefoot in the SpringtimeWhere I live it’s almost spring. The daffodils are blooming, the cherry trees are budding, and people are hanging up their heavy jackets and taking off their shoes to walk on the still warming earth. This is the time of year when I start to carefully observe the trees – waiting for the tiny buds that often seem to burst into great green leaves overnight. The magic of spring is renewing. Who can’t find themselves happy and smiling on one of those first early spring days? It’s wonderful! This Saturday, after a leisurely morning enjoying the earlier sunrise and all of the new birds that seem to be heading through my backyard, my family and I packed up a picnic lunch and headed out to the park to welcome spring - in all its glory. After a game of soccer in the field and a feast of cheese sandwiches and cookies, we all laid down in the grass for an afternoon nap. It’s funny how easily sleep comes when you are listening to the distant laughter of children while being enveloped by the warmth of the sun. It’s so peaceful, so comfortable, and so natural.
Last month I attended the American Camp Association’s national conference in Chicago, where spring seemed very far away. While there, I attended a speech given by Richard Louv, a journalist and naturalist who is also the author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin). Louv is a strong supporter of environmental based education. In his book he cites studies that show that children who experience the natural world around them learn and grow in ways that dramatically improve their standardized test scores, grade point averages, as well as their problem solving abilities, critical thinking and decision making. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that regular exposure to and play within the natural world stimulates creativity. Of course, in a conference room packed with summer camp administrators, Louv received a very supportive standing ovation for his speech and his work. I left the session filled with a new enthusiasm for taking campers on hikes through the creeks at camp and building secret forts with them in the rhododendron groves. Since I was a child I always found comfort playing in the woods and discovering the magical places that they held. I still do! Through many of my experiences with Eagle’s Nest (including hikes on the Appalachian Trail, mountain bike treks across sage filled plains in Montana, and camping out under the magnificent redwoods on the California coast), I have always felt a deep sense of connection to the natural world. I know that our campers and many, many others do too. I love being able to help foster that connection to nature through the programs at Camp and on Hante. And I am thrilled that the byproduct is not only an enhanced appreciation for nature, but also additional experience that we all need to grow and thrive. So, as spring approaches in your area, find some time to greet it outside. Leave your office or your homework for a little while. Go outside, take your shoes off and feel how the grass feels under your toes. Find a creek, put your hands in it, and turn over a few rocks and see what scurries away. Watch the bare trees as they begin to bud and bring forth the lush green leaves that will shade you throughout the hot days of summer. Most importantly, renew your connection to nature – and feel that joy that greets you with the coming of spring. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What Are You Doing This Summer? |
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Locally and Globally: Many Ways to ConnectEagle’s Nest has always sought to educate young people in a holistic and inclusive way. In a world that is becoming increasingly diverse, we embrace difference and teach the value of tolerance. By honoring each individual within community, The Outdoor Academy seeks to infuse its academic curriculum with the virtues of conscientious citizenship and responsible community membership. I believe many OA alumni would agree that our emphasis upon community process and cooperation is the principal distinctive feature of our school.
I thought about this educational mission frequently during the recent annual conference of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in Boston. Noni and I enjoyed this year’s gathering of educators that focused on the need for all teachers to cultivate a “global schoolhouse” in our classrooms and community centers. The opening address for the conference was delivered by Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, a demographer and researcher of human migration trends. His speech was overwhelmingly forward thinking: he expounded at length on projected population statistics for the United States, and the nature of our country in years to come. Suarez-Orozco argued that we should be preparing our children to be able participants in the international and intercultural discourse of our present and future. In particular, Suarez-Orozco emphasized the importance of cultivating flexible-thinking and meta-cognitive skills. He finished his address by underscoring the need for people to work collaboratively with others of similar and dissimilar identities, as we seek alternative solutions to conflicts of interest and human need. Some time after leaving Suarez-Orozco’s moving address, I entered the conference exhibition hall to visit the booths of educational agencies of every sort. One of the booths belonged to the advocacy group, “All Kinds of Minds” (allkindsofminds.org), an organization dedicated to the compelling educational ideas of Dr. Mel Levine. There, I enjoyed talking with the group’s representatives about the necessity of engaging each student in a personal educational journey. Levine’s ideas reminded me of Howard Gardner’s earlier notion of “multiple intelligence” – the idea that every person can learn in various modes, be they visual, verbal, aural, musical, kinesthetic, or spiritual. For me, the ideas of Levine and Gardner echo the concerns raised by Suarez-Orozco, for we are each unique individuals needing to cooperate and negotiate for our personal and shared needs. The individual differences addressed by Levine and Gardner seem be replicated, somehow, on a greater scale among cultural or nation groups. Toward the end of the conference, I was again moved by an address by Dr. Ruth Simmons, President of Brown University. During my time in New England, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Simons on numerous occasions, and so I was eager for her words of wisdom. She spoke eloquently and forcefully at times, on the responsibility of educators to “prepare students for the world.” She spoke of the world as it has been, the world as it is, and the world as it might someday become. She posited that of all things, “diversity should teach us to heal ourselves.” Ruth’s charge to educators was not a light one, for we have the duty to awaken learners to the challenges of our times and the many feasible means of alleviating environmental and human injustice. In order to accomplish this, we need to bring our students into a global schoolhouse – one that brings to light the interconnectedness of all societies. Ruth’s talk was a fitting end to the conference for me, as it confirmed and cemented many of the lessons I had encountered during the previous days. After soaking up all the inspiration I could possibly carry home, I returned to Eagle’s Nest – this time to a veritable “empty nest” as our student body and faculty have largely left campus for spring break. With campus quiet and work in the office under control, during lunchtime I wandered with my daughter Lucy in my arms for the better part of an hour. As I enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather, I thought about the conference and the article I would write for the upcoming edition of the Eagle, and I listened…and watched…as Lucy responded to the sound of birds, the smell of damp earth, and the pockets of warm and cool air that we moved through. What I observed reminded me of why we seek to educate out of doors. Our environment invites our full engagement, if only we make time to pay attention. It teaches diversity, interconnectedness, and the effect of human behavior. It teaches that dissimilar populations must find a way to mutually coexist. My walk and the conference left me with little doubt that a sound educational agenda for our present and future will require greater attention to our environments – near and far. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rekindle Your Connection- Help Someone Come to Eagle’s NestWhat is the link that connects Waves of Sharing, Hike for Hantes and Summer Search together? Each is united by the inspiration of special people like Amos Barclay, Dan Conway and Zanne Garland to help young people attend Eagle’s Nest Hantes.
In 2005 Eagle’s Nest supporters Dan Conway and Amos Barclay created a scholarship fund for Eagle’s Nest Hantes called Waves of Sharing to encourage a young generation to give back to what gave them the inspiration to become confident leaders. Together they set out to help Eagle’s Nest Foundation with its commitment to provide the opportunity for those with financial need to attend camp. They also hoped there were fellow “nesters” in their age range who had begun to make their way in the world and might feel the calling to give something back to the Nest.For the past ten years, Eagle’s Nest has worked together with Summer Search Foundation, an organization based in New York and California that selects and pays partial tuition for low-income high school youth to attend summer camps throughout the country. Through the generous donations of friends, family, and Nest alums from all over, Waves of Sharing (WOS) raised $4,000, and together with Summer Search the first ever WOS scholars experienced camp this past summer. The two students were able to have an immeasurably rewarding summer experience on a climbing and backpacking adventure in West Virginia and a hiking trip in the Adirondacks. ( see LINK Summer Search Letters) They also gave the Eagle’s Nest community the gift of their presence and participation.
This year Zanne Garland plans to join the momentum initiated by Amos and Dan to raise money for Eagle’s Nest wilderness leadership scholarships, and has initiated our new Hike for Hantes. Zanne believes communities can mobilize themselves to take action when they have the leadership and opportunity to do so (Mobilize to Rise). She has decided to turn her efforts to raising money to create leadership development opportunities for young people by taking the action of hiking the Appalachian Trail beginning in March. Now is the opportunity for YOU to rekindle your connection with Eagle’s Nest. You can invest in young people and provide access to wilderness leadership programs like Amos, Dan and Zanne have modeled. Each Hante will extend beyond learning leadership skills and will provide scholarship recipients the environment for an intense search for one’s true self, meaningful friendships, adventure and excitement. If you have participated in a past Hante you know the challenge to push mentally and physically to reach a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you. So as you plan your vacation this summer – trekking through the wilderness, rock climbing, biking, or whitewater paddling somewhere in the United States or world -- think about Hike for Hantes. YOU can start a movement of your own. YOU can help raise money so one more student can participate in an outdoor program as a result of a Hike for Hante scholarship. It may be as simple as 10 cents for every foot you climb or $1.00 for every mile you hike, but each step will make a Every gift counts as we connect students to Hantes. If you are not planning a vacation that can replicate this style of giving opportunity, we hope that you will rekindle your connection with a donation to Waves of Sharing or Hikes for Hante. Go to our Eagle’s Nest Foundation website (http://www.enf.org/foundation/) and click on “Make a Donation Today. ” And now it is easier than ever as you can choose to donate either by credit card or check. On behalf of this year’s Hante participants -- Thank you for your support! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A Gift of Land for the Nest
Trustees Helen and Moseley Waite have given to Eagle's Nest Foundation a wonderful, enduring gift of 3 acres of land contiguous to our Pisgah Forest property. It will be enjoyed year-round by all of our campers and OA students! We invite friends near and far to join Helen and Moseley with a gift of land as a way of helping to sustain our programs. Such property might be outside Pisgah Forest and serve as a base for our Hante adventure programs, or it could be held for future sale. If you would like to discuss such a gift - including planned giving options - please contact Jo Winkle, Director of Development. The benefit of donating appreciated property directly to Eagle's Nest, rather than selling it and then donating the proceeds, is that you as a donor can avoid the capital gains tax and the entire value of the property will go to the Nest. Please call Eagle's Nest before making any arrangements to sell the property, so the tax consequences can be properly reviewed to maximize your donation. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Find a True Sense of Self and Community on HanteWhen I was in high school each week I would eagerly await the next episode of Fame. Those of you who are from my generation will surely remember this show about the talented students at New York City’s arts based high school. I loved everything about that show – the musical numbers, the catchy songs, and the cool students who were passionate about their talents and seemed to have the confidence to be who they wanted to be. Mostly, though, I loved the community that they seemed to have at that high school. I wanted to be part of their group, to have those strong friendships, to try something challenging, and to know that I could do it with the support of my friends.
Throughout high school I searched for those kinds of opportunities. Like many high schoolers, I looked for ways to find my group and “fit in”. I also looked for myself. I was a member of many sports teams. I participated in the musical productions. I ran for office on the student government. I enjoyed all of these activities and did find a sense of membership and a sense of myself, but it wasn’t quite the community that I was looking for. And it certainly wasn’t as deep and cool as the community on Fame. Several years later I found myself working at Eagle’s Nest and leading Hante trips. The first Hante that I ever led was a bike trek along that Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). For nearly three-weeks I peddled up and down the hills of the BRP with one other instructor and 5 teenagers. We struggled across challenging mountain passes on hot summer days, went soaring down the winding roads on others, and shared stories of our challenges and joys around the campfire each night. Each day my excitement grew as I watched the teenage participants grow in their own confidence and their support of each other. That’s when I really got what community was all about. That’s when I first experienced that “thing” that I was searching for in high school. Over the years I have had the opportunity to lead many Hantes. Every one has been in a tight, supportive community – one that is nurturing, accepting and lots of fun! I’ve also been able to see many campers return from Hantes with a new sense of confidence, joy for nature, and a deeper understanding of self. Hantes seem to foster that sense of community and understanding that we all seek. We recently received a letter of thanks from a teenager who participated on a Hante this past summer. Every year we receive these kinds of letters or copies of college essays that participants have written about their experiences on Hante. I want to share a little excerpt.
If you have dreams like I did and find yourself seeking a supportive community, a chance to do something new, and an opportunity to find yourself, or if you know of someone who is, I encourage you to participate in a Hante at Eagle’s Nest this summer. If you do, I think that you’ll find what you’re looking for! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
More Than a Grassy Patch
Being a person who works in the Sun Lodge all year long, I often find myself power walking between the Salt Mines or the Whole Kitchen to the Sun Lodge and vice versa attempting to get through my to-do list. I might be able to cover the length of Cabin Seven Field with a case of broccoli faster than most. However, the other day when I was once again bound for the Sun Lodge, I came into Cabin Seven Field and immediately stopped. I’ll admit, the day was amazing, a light breeze pushed the tall white pines gently back and forth, and the clouds slowly meandered across the sky providing a checkerboard of sunshine and cool shade. Several Outdoor Academy students were reading, some were playing guitar, a teacher and a student were talking at a picnic table while sharing an orange, and I found myself unable to make it to my destination. Rather, my feet took me over to the various groups of people, and I sat and smiled and found out how they were. Instead of feeling a need to make it up the hill a little farther, I realized that I just needed to connect with my friends for a little while. And really, there isn’t a better place to do that than Cabin Seven field. 
For a patch of grass, Cabin Seven Field really serves as a busy crossroads sending and receiving people all year long. The field hosts countless games of Frisbee, wonderful outdoor meals, improvised musical sessions, and an overall feeling of joyfulness. It is in Cabin Seven Field that campers are inducted into their tribes, and where those same groups go forth and return during tribal hikes. The sounds of drumming, mimicking a heartbeat, begin here and spread out through the valley. Silly parades full of people lavishly decorated in paint, carrying puppets built from streamers, playing musical instruments of all varieties so often start in cabin seven field before dancing their way down the hill. And it is on this space, that so many people have laid in the comforting grass and gazed at the stars in wonder and peace. For the alums of the Outdoor Academy, Cabin Seven Field will always remain the ground on which the day comes to a close as the goodnight circle song is sung to bid the night welcome. Indeed, Cabin Seven Field is a crossroads – its one of the many special places where we as a community come together –as a whole and more often as small groups of dear friends. Just as the field serves as a place for friends to lay in the grass together and soak up the sun, Eagle’s Nest continues to be a second home for all of us to connect with our extended family, to see the friends we have made in summer’s past, and to begin making new amazing friendships. Although our lives may be scattered, we always have this common ground to hold hands together, to dance together, and to soak in the warm rays of the summer sun together. Eagle’s Nest, for me, always serves as a place that I can forget about my other destinations for a few moments, and just reconnect with the good friends who are here. And its here at camp, that in the busiest of moments, a warm patch of grass can stop me in my tracks, and help me remember what is really important. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Song of Connection
I came to The Outdoor Academy with some amount of fear in admitting that I liked something that I could in fact lose myself in it. I was too self-conscious to clap my hands with a song, to connect with honest emotion. I remember the first time I was introduced to the goodnight song. At the end of our first community meeting, as we all stood in a circle holding hands, the residents and teachers began to sing. I was still nervous about holding hands and could hardly imagine singing with these new people every night. I managed to mumble a few words that first night and over the next few days managed the rest of the song but I still wasn’t sure how to feel about it. One of my friends said later that that was the moment she first started to like OA. Personally, I was a little bit afraid of the moment; it seemed almost too intimate to take part in. Even as time went on and I grew more comfortable with the people around me, every evening was a reminder of a divide between us. I approached the song with hesitancy, unable to immerse myself in it, unable to immerse myself in the community fully. The hardest moment for me in those first weeks of the song was the space just before we began. Standing in a circle, facing each other, we would pause before some brave soul shaped the first note and we all joined in. I was so uncomfortable in those moments. I couldn’t handle the intimacy of silence as much as I couldn’t take the step to begin the song myself. It wasn’t until Parent’s Weekend that I realized I had some how begun to feel a communion with my fellow students. It surprised me so much that I was sad to leave for the weekend. I remember we were all a bit surprised that we cared so much for each other. There were girls crying when we said goodbye, long hugs packed with a sense of mourning at our parting. When I returned after the break, I realized that I had missed the goodnight song even. Somewhere, at some point I had begun to relish the moments before the song. It was my chance to look at all of the people around me, to appreciate the people I was with. In time, the song became bittersweet for me again because it meant a parting of ways between the cabins. I remember being so sad that I wouldn’t see the other boys and girls until the next morning. I began to sing for what I felt. At times, I would look up to the stars and be amazed that I was a part of such a magnanimous world. When I was a very little girl, there were times when I felt lifted out of myself almost. I would walk about with eyes full of wonder at a world I seemed to be looking down on from above. I experienced the world with a reverence at its novelty. I began to feel that reverence again in the goodnight song. It was as though I was connected to the world and myself and eventually even the people around me. I looked forward to Wednesdays because after the meeting that we labored through, we would come together, a community in its entirety, and sing with such meaning. Perhaps it was just my semester that had such brilliant singers on staff, but Wednesdays were the best because suddenly the song would take on new reverberations, hidden layers of the song exposed. It was my tangible link to everyone else around. And even as I enjoyed the connection, I still felt some doubt before the song each night. I had come to the point where I wanted to be the first who initiated the song. I wanted so much to be able to bring everyone together, their voices layered on top of mine. I was still hesitant though. As much as I loved the people around me, I was afraid of my voice, hanging all alone in the air. I remember so vividly, the night I first started the song. It was a Wednesday. The night’s topic wasn’t even that important; I just knew that the time had come. As my voice broke upon the air I knew that I had begun something amazing. The song around me lifted with it the joy of connection, the feeling of complete acceptance. I was inextricably tied to every person in the room and every place outside the picture windows. As cut off from the world as I sometimes believed I was, I felt a connection with all living things as I celebrated my own life in song. I know now that the joy I felt in that song was not just in connecting to everyone around me, but also in belonging to everyone around me and ultimately to the world. And I can admit now, I absolutely love singing that song. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
OA Alumni in the spotlight Josie graduated from Windsor Forest High School in Savannah, GA in June 2003. She is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in special education at Armstrong Atlantic State University. She plans on working with autistic children and their families. Her hobbies include singing and acting. She has performed in community theatre as the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as the evil stepsister Lucinda in Into the Woods, as Rosalia in West Side Story and a chorus member in Cinderella. Josie also performs with the University Choir at school and is looking forward to touring in Atlanta this spring. Josie currently works at the JEA (Jewish Educational Alliance) as an after-school care specialist, and plans to visit Israel in the near future. Anna Conrad (Semester II) Anna received her undergraduate degree from Middlebury College. During college, she led Hante’s for Eagle’s Nest and trips for Moondance Adventures. After graduating from college, Anna drove across the country, exploring the United States as well as Mexico for five months. After traveling, she worked at a hospital for two years in Bozeman, Montana, plus received a Fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center, where she realized her true calling, and decided to pursue a career in medicine. She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia where she’s enrolled in the Physician Assistant Program at Emory University’s Medical School.
Originally from Takoma Park, Maryland, Julie grew up in a small, progressive town nestled on the border with Washington, DC. From a young age, she was very captivated by both the natural world and the arts, drawn to issues relating to social justice. After attending camp and OA, she became very involved in City at Peace, a youth development organization that uses the performing arts to create personal and community change. This combination of the performing arts and social justice led her to attend Manhattan College. As an undergrad, Julie circumnavigated the globe with Semester at Sea, continuing the OA experience of experiential learning, as well as studying for a summer in South Africa. While in college, she worked to promote a better community as a Resident Assistant, a social justice activist, as well as an actress and director in socially conscious theatrical productions. She graduated in May 2005 with a double major in Peace Studies and Urban Affairs with a minor in Pan-African Studies. She graduated as Valedictorian of her class with high honors. She is now pursuing a Master's in Nonprofit Management at New School University in Greenwich Village, while working full time at the Support Center for Nonprofit Management. She is interested in working with young people as a teacher and mentor, incorporating environmental education and the performing arts as a tool for change within a nonprofit organization. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
OA Alumni Katharine Wilkinson Named Rhodes Scholar
Since graduation, Katharine has been working with the Natural Resources Defense Council on the Cumberland Plateau ' Biogem' initiative. In September she heads for England and her Masters studies in Environmental Change and Management at Oxford. This spring The Outdoor Academy is having an Environmental Conference—an ambitious name, but one that we hope will grow over the years into a gathering of young people from many schools. It was a conversation at the bakery in Brevard last fall with Katharine that solidified my ideas and really sparked my resolve to propose this event. Her enthusiasm and suggestions encouraged us to push a concept into a reality—something I believe Katharine Wilkinson does everyday. Before breakfast, I imagine. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Outdoor Academy Semester XXII – Spring 2006
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Spaces and scholarships are still available for
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Roukiatou Aboubacar (C) is currently in her first year of college at Brown University in Rhode Island. This summer she is taking on an amazing adventure: biking across the country to raise funds for, and awareness about, affordable housing efforts. The trip is conducted by the organization Bike and Build, and about thirty of college students will ride from Providence, RI to Seattle, WA. Along the way, they’ll talk about the cause with people they meet in communities across the country while also building houses for Habitat for Humanity. Patrick Molitoris (C), who is also a student at Brown, participated in this program last year. Patrick recently traveled to Northern Ireland to interview locals in hopes of getting a better understanding of that country. To prepare for his trip, Patrick contacted Stephen Procter (S), a previous staff member from Northern Ireland. Stephen is now married and living in England where he is a high school teacher. Katie Rauch (OA) lives in Sun Valley, Idaho and works for Smith Optics, a sunglass and goggle company. Davis Alford (C, JC), Walter Kucera (C, OA, JC), Sarah Anderson (C, OA, JC), Will McKim (C, JC) and Patrick Sweatt (C) were cast in the Reynolds High School production of Grease that played March 16-18 in Winston-Salem. Many ENC and OA alums were to be found in the audience cheering on their fellow nesters. Lindsay Malinowski (OA) is currently an art major at the University of South Florida and is working as a DJ at a local radio station. This spring she is traveling to India to work with orphaned children. Anna J. Boll (C, JC, S) is busy writing and illustrating for children. Four of her poems have been published by “Highlights for Children,” and one was published in “ Babybug Magazine.” She is currently at work on a novel manuscript, based on her camp memories. Rich and Heidi Campbell (S) are headed to New Zealand for a yearlong faculty exchange. Their daughter Ella begins kindergarten next year. Emma Gonzalez (C, OA) is attending Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and plans on continuing to live and work in New York City after she graduates. Katharine Wilkinson (OA) won a Rhodes Scholarship, making her Sewanee’s 25 th Rhodes Scholar. Josie Streiff (C, OA) is attending Armstrong Atlantic State University and majoring in special education. After college, she plans on teaching and working with autistic children and their families. Eve Leonard (C, JC, S) has been writing for the Poughkeepsie Journal’s “Our Environment” section this semester. She also helped with a “waste audit” of Vassar to reach a level of “zero waste.” She is actively preparing for her Environmental Justice-related thesis. Anna Conrad (C, OA, S) is currently a student at the Emory University Medical School in the Physician Assistant Program. Julie Grogan-Brown (C, JC, OA) is currently pursuing a Master's in Nonprofit Management at New School University in Greenwich Village, while working full time at the Support Center for Nonprofit Management. Jen Walton (C, OA) is attending graduate school at Colorado State University, pursuing a Master of Science in Technical Communication. Since graduating from UNC, she has interned with a lobbying group in Washington, D.C., fought wildfire with the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado, backpacked in Europe, settled into a 9-5 job educating clients about energy conservation near San Francisco, CA. Sarah Fraser (formerly Sarah Griffin, C, S) recently moved to Asheville after finishing graduate work in Charleston, SC. After her recent marriage, she and her new hubby hiked the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Mt. Katahdin for their honeymoon. Jenni Skyler(C, OA, JC, S) writes that she is competing in triathalons and is completing her Masters in marriage and family therapy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Eagle’s Nest Camp Hires New Assistant Camp Director!Eagle’s Nest Camp is excited to announce that Julie Slobin will begin work as the new Assistant Camp Director this May. Many of you know Julie from her years of working at camp. Julie came to Eagle’s Nest from her native Australia for the first time in 1998. Since then, Julie has worked in many different roles including Athletic Director, Water Front Director, Assistant Program Director and head counselor for Cabins Library, One and Two. She’s also spent the last year and a half working as a trainee for Eagle’s Nest. Over the course of her years at Eagle’s Nest, Julie has been an invaluable member of our camp staff. We are thrilled that she will be continuing on as a member of the full time camp leadership team. Of her experience with Eagle’s Nest Julie says “Eagle’s Nest’s beliefs in community, belonging, child’s choice, and diversity are a part of the reason I return each year. I enjoy working in an environment where I can teach children and provide a space in which they can.” We are looking forward to supporting Julie in this role. As we welcome Julie, we are sad to say goodbye to Charles Disney. Charles has done a terrific job of supporting and promoting Eagle’s Nest Camp. We are very grateful to him for his efforts, his hard work, and his humor. He leaves to return to New York City and the many adventures that await him there. We wish him the very best of luck in New York. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Best Crossword Puzzle Ever!Test your Eagle's Nest Knowledge Good Luck - Julie Slobin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bumper Sticker Contest!Do you have a catchy camp, Hante or Outdoor Academy slogan that you’d like to see on a bumper sticker? If so, send it in! We’re looking for fun new things to put on stickers for our cars, trunks, etc. Many of you have seen the “Have you circled up today?” and classic “Pisgah Forest is Tree-mendous” stickers. What would your message read? Your idea might end up printed on a sticker for the world (or maybe just the cities our campers and students come from) to see! Please send in your ideas by May 1 st.
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Blacksmithing Strikes Its Way In to CampWith the help of some very hardworking and enthusiastic Outdoor Academy students the new blacksmithing and green woodworking shop is now under construction. Eagle’s Nest campers will be pleased to hear that with completion of this workshop blacksmithing will be offered at camp this summer! Outdoor Academy students have been honing blacksmithing skills for several years but this will be the first time that the traditional blacksmithing class will be offered at Camp.
The workshop is located on the site of the old Rifle Range. Since riflery has not been offered since the 1980’s, some folks may not recognize this as the open air shed near Indian Village and the Low Ropes Course. This area has served many purposes in more recent years from a rainy day getaway for the Initiatives and Indian Lore classes at camp or OA’s Natural Science class, to a hiding spot during Capture the Flag, or a place to sit near the creek and find solitude. We were sad to see the Rifelry Shed come down, but the OA students made short work of it. After partially dismantling a few choice beams, a rope was tied on, and five students pulled and pulled until it fell with a thud. Then we all stood quiet, some thinking about the experiences and magic that had been created there, some about the excitement of what was to come, and some thinking of the feat that had just accomplished with a rope and their bare hands.
In the late 1800’s the blacksmith was always a popular trades person. They were so sought after that often times a home and shop was provided for the blacksmith to encourage them to settle in a community. They would quickly go to work shoeing horses, fixing wagons, and forging axes and nails for the people to build their log cabins and barns. We expect the new Green Working and Blacksmithing shop to be equally popular among campers and OA students, whether they are looking to learn the ways of the old timers, learn a new craft, or just experience the fun of shaping some red hot metal. For now I must leave my computer and get back to notching logs and sawing oak beams, but I look forward to seeing you in the shop this summer! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2005 Honor Roll of DonorsDid you know that in 2005 Eagle’s Nest Foundation was able to award 15 Outdoor Academy students financial aid in the amount of $84,600 and 37 campers financial aid amounting to $33,433? And, in addition, we were able to rebuild Cabin 10 to comfortably house students and campers throughout the year? This was all possible thanks to our many friends and alumni who gave generously throughout 2005. Please visit our Honor Roll of Donors online. So many thanks to each of you for your support!
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We currently have spaces available in:
Before my trip I was a shy person. I had a lot of trouble expressing myself and starting conversations with new people. I was also scared of trying something new because I thought I would not be good enough. Now all that has changed. I’m not locked up in my own shell anyone. I’m not scared to speak out of start something new because I am a whole new different person that I am proud of.
Josie Streiff (Semester XII) 
Julie Grogan-Brown (Semester VI) 
We are delighted and proud to pass along the news that Katharine Wilkinson of OA Semester VIII was named a Rhodes Scholar last November. She was one of thirty-one students selected from 903 applicants. Katharine is a 2005 summa cum laude graduate of Sewanee: The University of the South. For anyone who knows Katharine, there should be no surprise that her resume is already as long as my arm. To say she leads a full life is a laughable understatement. While at Sewanee as a religion major, Katharine was twice awarded the Morris K. Udall Scholarship, served as captain of the Equestrian Team with three top ten national finishes, received the outstanding female athlete award, studied sustainable development in Costa Rica and international social justice in Switzerland, worked with the school's clean energy campaign and Environmental Residents program, and earned an honorable mention for the 2005 Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics. Then she had lunch, I think. And I believe there were some classes and papers and exams in there somewhere.
The Outdoor Academy 
