Students walk into the Holocaust Museum. Photo Kira Tenney.

Galen Volckhausen runs Grace Under Pressure at Great Falls. Photo by Seth Dow. For more photos of Great Falls and a write up on the River, go to www.momentsofexploration.blogspot.com

Craig Kleckner on Grace Under Pressure. Photo Seth Dow. www.momentsofexploration.blogspot.com

Hunt Jennings throws a Brown Claw ontop of the Washington Monument.

Sunset jump photo, with the Capitol building in the background. Photo Hunt Jennings.

NRA in front of the Washington Monument after an epic day in DC

The weekend of May 11th-13th, New River Academy left the woods of West Virginia behind, and headed into the metropolis of Washington DC for a little culture, and of course, a little kayaking.

Earlier this year, I introduced the students in my World Literature class to the Holocaust when we read Marcus Zusak’s book The Book Thief.    The Book Thief  tells the story of a young German girl named Liesel Memminger and her foster family, and their decision to hide a Jew in their Munich basement during World War Two. It is a story in part about the power of words, and the power of friendship.

While reading the book, I was surprised to see how little the students knew about the Holocaust in general, and some of the history behind it.Hence, a field trip was born; the idea being to bring the students to the Holocaust Museum, and then let them wander around DC to absorb some culture, see some sights, etc. But what field trip at a kayaking highschool would be complete without a little kayaking to accompany the glories of our nations capital?

Fortunately for us, the Potomac river (yes, the one that Washington crossed) runs right through the heart of Washington DC, and just a bit further South of the city is the Whitewater kayaking paradise of Potomac Gorge, and the legendary Great Falls. We were lucky enough to have NRA alumni Jordan Poffenburger put us up at his home just outside of the city, and with the help of DC local Geoff Calhoun, show us down the Falls. Ned Poffenburger showed the rest of our group down the lower part of the Potomac gorge, home to several great play spots, and some beautiful scenery.

Great Falls is a maze of channels and slots on a river wider than the highways and beltways circling DC. Located in a national park, it is a coveted run for mid-Atlantic paddlers, primarily because it is imperative to know the lines and where to go on the river, to avoid getting hurt or arrested by the park service. On our way to the river, Jordan regaled us with stories of kayakers accidentally signalling rescue helicopters to save them, thanks to well meaning bystanders and tourists at the park.

In the evening light, with birds circling above the river, the Potomac felt pre-historic. It was hard to imagine that the city of DC was a mere 20 minute drive away. It seemed more likely that we would see dinosaurs around the next bend in the river, rather than seeing their skeletons in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Saturday was an epic day of urban adventures. The day started off at the US Memorial Holocaust Museum, where students went into the permanent exhibit as well as a temporary exhibit on Propoganda- a perfect example of the power of the media in government- our most recent chapter in Government.  Then students were allowed to explore the joys of DC on their own, before meeting up to see “Dynamic Earth” at the Einstein Planetarium, a film produced by my dad about the carbon cycle- currently being studied by Kira Tenney’s Environmental Science class. Post movie, we had a sunset photoshoot in front of the Washington Monument before heading home.

Despite behind tired from our city fun, we decided to return and paddle a Great Falls and the lower gorge again on Sunday before heading home to Fayetteville and finals week.

Galen practicing his stomp on Wonder Falls. Photo from Hunt Jennings

Alex Muck nailing her boof stroke on Wonder Falls. Photo from Hunt Jennings.

Coach Dow runs Big Splat. Photo by Anna Bruno.

We spent the whole of last week in Phillipi, WV, where we got super lucky with levels, and got to run the Cheat, the Tygart, Laurel creek, and my favorite, the Big Sandy. The Big Sandy feeds into the same take-out as the Cheat, making it a fun and convenient run. Our 2nd quarter coach uncle Jake Greenbaum joined up with us to take us down. He is a local in the area and knows the run better than anybody.

After a rather long walk in we made it to the put-in. The river was a larger volume creek and had a good amount of flow in it. The river began with a couple miles of class III IV boogie water until we got to a sweet 20 footer that the Big Sandy is known for, called Wonder falls.

The 20 footer had a great lip on the left and a big hole on the right. After amazing our audience by telling them that we were going to ride our boats over the falling water we hit the drop up. Chris Smith went third and showed us that if you don’t boof, and don’t bring any speed to the lip, the hole below the drop was not as innocent looking as we thought.

Despite the epic beat down, almost all of the kids still wanted to fire the drop up and did. Alex Muck styled the line, and had one of her best boofs ever. After the 20 footer the run picked up. We ran about 3 or 4 miles of steady class four which is really fun. The continuous river made the rapids go by very fast.

The next big rapid was called big splat. Most of the coaches, Hunt, and Galen ran big splat. Big splat is a two move rapid. It has a class IV entrance rapid followed by a 10 foot boof in which you have to drive left off of while boofing to avoid a large rock and hole at the bottom. I loved the drop and it made my day. It was a good mix between a hard move to make and a little bit of consequence.We all ran it well with the worst line only being me going a little to far right. The rest of the run followed as most of the run had. Jake showed me a bunch of sweet little lines that are not a part of the main run.

It was a great day and the Big Sandy is one of the best runs that we have done 4^th quarter and definitely the best run for the whole school because everyone could run it. It was Great Success! Thanks Jake and Chris for showing us down.

"Isla Mujeres" Photo for Story #1. Photo by Anna Bruno

He sits alone, in his room in his broken down house. He has been though hell and back, he thought he could change his life and live a better life but he could not, in his little hammock he thinks. He needs to find a different way out, he has tried hard work in a poor country but with no schooling it does not help him. He is now thinking of trying to get god to help him praying for a miracle but he is not 100% faithful it will work. He has no leg and his crunches are in the back and he wonders “will life ever change for the better or just keep getting worse?”

Policia, Isla Mujeres. Photo Inspiration, Story 2. Photo by Anna Bruno.

This man sits doing his job. In his white lawn chair and his blue uniform, thinking that he should get respect from all who see him because he is a police officer. What he does not admit is how corrupted his force is. He is in a small area with lots of crime and he knows he could die in the area he sits. He thinks about the white tile floor and he imagines his blood spilling all over the floor and he starts to wonder if anyone else in his force would come help him or would they just leave him there to die. It’s a hard life for this man.  He can’t just wait anymore. He wants to leave the force but he needs the money to feed himself and his family, so he sits and waits.

In a race, your start is crucial! Get out ahead, and start out strong. Then you can settle into your rhythm later. Here, competitors sprint to get ahead of the mess at the Cheat Race. Photo by Carla Astorga.

Another Tip: Get Fired Up! Do what you need to in order to have fun and get excited. Here, Geoff Calhoun paints his face ala Braveheart for the Cheat race. It worked. He won. Photo by Carla Astorga.

In light of the annual Cheat race last weekend, and with strong urging from Anna, I thought I would share a few of my racing tips with you. New River Academy did well at this years Cheat race. Coach Seth Dow took first in the Men’s Shortboat category- but only because I was right behind him to claim the second place title. Kira Tenney placed second for the Women’s short boat, and other New River Academy students had a blast, made some key hand of god rescues, and enjoyed the 11 mile run.

You might think that New River Academy crushed it due to our excessive race training. You would be wrong. I am about to tell you why, and let you know what you really need to do well in creek boat racing.

The first thing that everyone needs to understand about racing is everyone moves at about the same speed. It doesn’t always have to come down to who has the biggest arms or who has better endurance. Creek races are made by the lines taken, by how you harness your energy, and when you use it. It really doesn’t matter how big your arms are, if you can’t read water then you’re going to lose anyways. Racing is all about reading the water.

Another very important tip is (shh…) In a race, don’t go for the wave trains. If you hug eddy lines and cut corners you can cut off tuns of time.( /\/\/\/\/\ ) this is a wave train( ___________)this is an eddy line. By hugging the eddyline, you cut out the up and down distance, making your paddling more efficient.

The next very important tip is to rest in rapids and paddle hard through the flat water. This is because in the rapids, the water is doing the work for you- you won’t be able to accelerate faster than the water most of the time. Therefore, use this time to conserve your energy, so that you can sprint where it matters most. On the flats, there is nothing to help you except for your own speed and power. This is where you unleash the beast… so to speak.

The last tip I’m going to give away is…don’t tangle up with others. If you get caught up on another racer let him go in front, ride his wake and rest. Then in the next rapid pass him with hard powerful strokes. Watch out for stern ends of the boats in front of you- try not to take one to the eye, as Alex Muck learned the hard way at this past Cheat race.

I hope this is helpful to all the boaters out there looking for how to improve their racing times. Remember, you want to finish a race feeling as though you couldn’t possibly have taken one more stroke. Conserve a little bit of energy to make a strong finish- and always have fun.

http://www.ithacadreams.com/#!sports

During our time in Chile we did a lot of work on hydro electricity  projects (dam) and we found it appalling what some of the company’s are doing. Chile does not own its own water rights witch means foreign company’s come into Chile and dam their rivers and the people of Chile lose there rivers and don’t get anything out of it. The envrionmental science class decided to make a short film on the proposed dam on the Maipo River, this quarter when we got back to the USA we put on a benefit at the Brew n View in Asheville to raise some money for the people trying to stop the project. During the Benefit we had 3 movies that we showed, we started with the short film we made when we were down in Chile, then Hunt showed the kayak video he had been working on to get the crowd fired up, and we finished off with a showing of Patagonia Rising. After all the movies, we had a raffle with a bunch of prizes from Skirts, PFDs, T shirts and a week long kayaking trip at wilderness tours on the Ottawa river over all it was a great benefit!

Dates: October 18 to December 20, for more info email NewRiverGap@gmail.com.

Related read… Meet your gap year instructor Tino Specht.

Related read… What ages can apply to Patagonia Gap Year.

Gappers build a first aid kit at their Pucon Chile base.

Last week I had a teleconference with a father after his daughter enamored by kayaking had persistently asked to apply to New River’s Patagonia Gap Year. Eventually he agreed to speak with me but had concerns that could mainly fall into two categories. He left our conversation feeling worse about sending his daughter. And I knew I had poorly articulated and needed to further address his points.

A father’s two concerns related to Patagonia Gap Year were:

• Concern 1, Safety- the father was mostly concerned with Chile as a nation’s safety versus safety on the river. The safety blog (coming next week) addresses multiple levels of safety and how PGY will prep students for life accountability and wise decision making.
• Concern 2, “How can taking a year off motivate my child to succeed in university and career?” (when all she wants to do is kayak?)

The father’s points are of such importance that I’m dedicating two blogs to the separate answers. I would like to thank him for the reminder, the opportunity to improve communication, and the topic of PGY’s next two e-news letters.

For Students- If you are considering applying to PGY then you should forward this email to your parents. Or get your parents on the enews list. They have questions and before they will consider allowing you to apply they need those questions answered.

For Parents- Consider reading the entire response. You may be surprised by the answer.

Excerpts below are taken direct from email correspondence:

(Father’s name of potential applying PGY student),

I got away from your response as I departed for a trip. I’ve thought about and processed our conversation and will best provide answers to your concerns. From our conversation the points can be categorized into two areas:

A.  Safety concerns

And, B.  “How can taking a year off motivate (student name) to succeed in university and career?”

(Safety Response Coming Soon)

Second Issue:  “How can taking a year off motivate (student’s name) to succeed in university?”

(Father’s name) you have excellent points. First I want to note the value of your parental and family educational influence and work ethic. Yes. Yes. Yes. These come into play more than you might realize at the moment. The family values are instilled but at this development stage the adolescent often has trouble accepting them based on some mental blocks.

Some College Stats

Here are a few statistics and ideas that may help.  The average drop out rate for freshman nationwide is 40%.  For some schools it’s even higher.  The odds of finishing a degree are even smaller.  The reasons so many freshman drop out are various but most involve being emotionally unprepared for college such as an inability to cope with the freedom of college – not going to classes, being distracted by parties and other social activities, loneliness.  Also many freshman don’t have any idea what they want to do with their life and instead of using college to explore they get the mistaken idea that they have to decide on a major and see it through.  When they realize they’re not interested in their chosen subject the other temptations on their time cause them to fail.  This failure then convinces them that college is not for them and it takes years before they go back if they ever do.

Photo journalism students compose shots in Pichilemu, Chile. This is the cyber generation and media skills offer a competitive edge.

What the gap year does is take the pressure off the college decision.  It allows kids to mature emotionally in a controlled environment while they pursue their own interests in this case kayaking.  For example by allowing the kids to be part of the planning and executing of their own kayak trips they learn to manage their time, their finances and their energy, they learn to balance the fun of kayak trips with a sampling of academic studies such as Spanish and Photography/video. Instead of the pressure of having to make good grades in 15 plus hours of college courses, many of which they are not even interested in, the gap year allows an exploration of how best to balance their personal interests with academic demands.

Traveling in a foreign country broadens perspectives and the experience of traveling, meeting new people, making new friends while doing what they love (kayaking) gives students the social skills they will need to form the strong friendships in college that have proven to be one of the best predictors of success in college.  College for freshman is a foreign culture but not as foreign as traveling in a different country with a different language.  The gap year abroad teaches students how to successfully navigate a foreign culture so when they go back to the U.S. College seems tame and easily manageable.

Is the grass greener on the other side? Gap year students watch and rescue goats being herded to the highland grasses of the Achibueno Valley.

The grass always looks greener on the other side.  This is especially true for kayakers.  The romance of traveling abroad to kayak, running spectacular rivers, pursuing ones own interests sounds like paradise after the restrictive routines of High School but the reality of traveling abroad and kayaking are harsh and challenging.  Lots of things go wrong.  Vehicles break down.  Rivers are too high or too low to run.  A beautiful day turns cold and rainy.  Ones fellow kayakers have their own personality quirks that grate on ones nerves. Even trying to find a bathroom can become a major challenge.  Despite it being everything the kayakers dreamed of there’s always the moment when loneliness and homesickness strike and home seems like the most wonderful place in the world.  After a year of traveling abroad the fantasy of the kayak paradise is replaced by the realization that we make our own happiness from struggles and disappointments, successes and failures, incredible highs and moments of loneliness that make up life no matter where we are.

Our education system has it backwards.  We force young people into college, force them to choose a course of study and work incredibly hard, make sacrifices all in the pursuit of a fantasy tomorrow.  College becomes simply a means to an end and if a student isn’t already committed to that end it’s almost impossible to see the point of so much work.  The gap year by allowing college students to first pursue their most passionate interest, their fantasy life, gives them the time, space and experiences to understand how much work and sacrifice it takes to make ones own goals and aspirations a reality. The prospect of college takes on an entirely different flavor. Instead of a continuation of the prison that was high school, college becomes the freely chosen means of creating and pursuing a meaningful life.

I’ve personally watched the transformation of students not interested in College time after time. Parents later write me excitedly announcing their child is enrolling on their own to a university or the student requests a letter of recommendation. It takes time. It takes a team effort. I am confident in the product we are offering you. The final stages of adolescent development are more vital than most realize.

Feel free to write your concerns.

David Hughes

For high school grads and university students choose New River’s favorite program… Patagonia Gap Year.

Dates: October 18 to December 20, for more info email NewRiverGap@gmail.com.

Related read… Meet your gap year instructor Tino Specht.

Related read… What ages can apply to Patagonia Gap Year.