Q: How can students who want to join the outdoors club get in contact with you?
A: Students can email Bethanne Goldman, and can enter her room “B4”, and also communicate with Estrella Cayuelas Solano in room “C11” and Mr.Lopez in room 137, and they have meetings every Thursday after school in B4.
Q: What are some fun things people, who are interested in joining can expect to
A: They do a variety of things such as Hiking, and this year the students went to Mount Wachusett in Massachusetts and did some hikes in “Harold Parker State Forest, Lynn Woods, climbing in Everett, even Ice Skating and visiting a farm. They’re going to start gardening and maybe exploring biking with the students.
Q: What do you recommend for equipment for students who’d like to join the outdoors club?
A: Students do not need any equipment, they will provide what the students need. They provide hiking boots or when they decide to go climb, they rent everything. Even for camping trips, everything is provided for the students. In general, as long as you have warm clothes or athletic clothes, that’s all you really need and they can provide anything else that the students need.
Q: What is your favorite trip you have gone on with the outdoors club this year?
A: My favorite trip that wasn’t an overnight trip was a farm that we went to. The reason why I liked it was because I’ve never been there before and it was really unexpected. There were a lot of animals. We had a really large group, probably over 20 kids. There was a giant pig, a random cow, even a fox. Also, there were pretty flowers, so I thought it was a nice experience that was relatively close by. And my other favorite trip was our overnight trip to New Hampshire because we got to do a lot of cool activities in the winter, so we learned how to cross country ski, which is one of my favorite activities. We did a nighttime hike as well. In general, it was a really bonding experience for our club because you’re trapped with people for two nights and sometimes there were stressful things and we needed to rely on each other, in which people got to know each other better.
Q: What’s the next upcoming trip for the outdoors club?
A: Our next trip is March 28th and we’re going rock climbing. Our last rock climbing trip. Then, having some hikes coming up soon.
Q: What are the core values of outdoors club?
A: Being outside and having fun. When you’re going hiking in New Hampshire, there’s a specific group of people that you see and usually look like me. I didn’t go hiking as a student, my friend showed me. I always wanted to, but it felt very scary. It is dangerous to some extent to go hiking in mountains, but it’s all about feeling confident that you can do it. So, one of our goals is to build confidence in outdoor areas. When you graduate high school, you can go hiking on your own and rock climbing. I think being outdoors is a good stress relief and serves the purpose of providing those opportunities.
Q: What is your favorite part of leading the amazing outdoors club
A: One is getting to know students from a non-academic point of view. I really enjoy teaching students how to rock climb and I think students are really scared to do things because things can be scary. Whether that's going rock climbing or students not thinking that they can go on a long hike and helping students power through that.