Famed Massachusetts philosopher Henry David Thoreau spent two years living in the woods to “live deliberately” and “suck the marrow” out of life.
These words from the 1840s and this philosophy for the last 50 years have rung true for generations of Old Rochester Regional students. In 1973, a “survival” camping trip for ORR Junior High students was instituted to teach them to commune with nature, learn survival skills and develop a new sense of life.
The “founding fathers” of this program and many alumni will gather for a 50-year reunion this Saturday, August 17, at 4:00 pm at Ned’s Point in Mattapoisett, according to Kristen Boucher, the media liaison for the event and a 1990 participant of the program.
Since its 1973 inception, the program has called on seventh graders to prepare for a one-week camping trip. According to Boucher and other alumni, the experience was life changing.
According to a Wanderer article that commemorated the 45-year anniversary, Carleton Vaughn and Jim Hubbard, two ORRJH science teachers inspired by Euell Gibbons (author of “Stalking the Wild Asparagus”) and stories from former students about the Outward Bound program, started the Survival program in 1973.
The educators were looking for ways to supplement the science curriculum by studying plants, flora, as well as learning about the great outdoors and all nature has to offer. From physical education to survival skills to social/emotional learning – a familiar phrase at ORR – the program touches upon all aspects of student learning and growth.
According to the Wanderer article, the number of participants has fluctuated throughout the years, averaging 100 students at a time. The participants are broken into two groups, each staying in basecamp while the other is sent out on a three-day hiking trip.
The students spend the spring at school preparing for this experience, learning about building emergency shelters, learning about wild plants and other survival and outdoor skills, also according to the article.
“’Survival’ changed my life in ways I never imagined, both as a student experiencing it in 1990 and as an adult coming in with new, yet very nostalgic eyes in 2024,” said Boucher, who later went on to become a chaperone and a nurse for the trip. “As a student, I found the personal growth I experienced to be the most profound outcome – doing and surviving some of the most challenging physical, emotional, and environmental things I’d ever encountered and coming out of it stronger than ever, was incredibly empowering.”
Boucher noted that participants came from three different towns – Rochester, Marion and Mattapoisett. Many of the students were involved in different activities, interests and circles of friends.
Some of those borders – both physical and metaphorical – faded away during that time in the woods. Some of those borders were completely erased, and unlikely friendships thrived throughout the years.
“We were all in it together – doing something that bonded us for life. It was really powerful,” said Boucher.
A member of Generation X, Boucher reached out to a millennial who had attended the program in 2005. She also reached out to one of the first participants. Both talked about their experience and how it changed them.
Though these people represent different generations, their insights about the program and its impact are identical.
“Survival is one week out of your 13-year-old life where nothing outside of that mountain and those trails really matters. Everyone is dirty, everyone’s hair is a mess, you’re all in this together. It’s a chance for you to meet new people and bond over things that you never would’ve talked about otherwise,” says Kayley Hartley. “Something that I think about often is that sometimes when you get ‘lost,’ it might really be an opportunity to spend a little bit more time on the trail you wouldn’t have chosen, and sometimes we all need that.”
Hartley echoed some of Boucher’s comments. Unlikely friendships often develop from the event, and years later, survival participants greet each other with a “wave” when they see each other, Hartley says.
“I enjoy seeing other survival people out and about and giving a little wave, knowing exactly what they went through without knowing they went through it personally. That’s one of the beauties of ‘Survival,’ everyone’s experience is completely different,” Hartley said.
Kate Souza recalls being a shy seventh-grader in 1973, but that all changed after being part of the first group to participate.
“Not being with my friends helped me to come out of my shell, communicate and to work with people I didn’t know well,” Souza said. “Hiking, I learned to work with other people that I would not have done before, being so shy. I was out of my comfort zone; survival helped me to overcome some of my shyness.
“As a teenager, young adult, and now at my present age, I have the tools to work with people that I don’t know or barely know and to advocate for myself and other people that may need help.”
Boucher, Souza and Hartley struggled to pinpoint their fondest memory of the trip – there were too many to recall. Boucher, however, still remembers the words to 90 percent of the campfire and bus songs that students sang together.
“After very long days in very challenging environments, we’d gather around the fire with Rory McFee (the director at that time) playing his guitar. We’d sing songs and make up skits … and all egos were left behind – everyone participated and no one cared about what they looked or sounded like,” she said.
Boucher also has fond memories of the homecoming when students returned from the trip.
“It still gives me chills, recalling the moment the buses rolled back into town on Saturday, the kids singing and chanting at the top of their lungs down Route 6, and the excitement and reunions with families when their kids got off those buses,” Boucher said. “Even just talking about it now chokes me up because so many of these kids returned as completely different, far more independent and empowered individuals.”
By Jeffrey D. Wagner