Our daily schedule begins with Taylor and I furiously scribbling sentences in Creative Writing; currently, we are dissecting Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Taylor’s passion for words makes her a delight to have in class! My AP English seniors, Stephen, Matti and Tracy,  are analyzing their opinions on the effects of war and the possibility of peace as we read Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut.  Zoe and Kyle are busy discussing Alice in Wonderland as an allegory for adolescence, and writing endlessly, developing skills to construct the perfect essay. In World Literature, Eric, Alex and Clay just finished essays on the importance of freedom after reading Ayn Rand’s Anthem. Now we are studying Chilean history as we embark on The House of the Spirits, a political, semi-autobiographical novel by Isabel Allende, one of Chile’s best-known authors. My British Lit students, Jessica and Chase, are reading poetry by Chaucer and Shakespeare as they dream up sonnets and soliloquys of their own.

Student dynamics are great in all of my classes, and I am thrilled with the level of cooperation and the willingness to discuss.

Callie Morgigno

Drive from Pucon to Rio Llancahue

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This is the drive from Pucon to the put-in Of the Rio Llancahue. The drive goes past the Termas Geometricas near Conaripe. Be wary though as the road is not maintained as well as others in the area so nice weather and a four wheel drive car is recommended. The put in will be marked with a sign that says: “No a las centrales hidroelectricas de paso en una zona de turistica.”

The run is a solid class 4 venture beginning with a good twenty foot drop. There are many other drops which can be run, scouted and portaged with the help of the riverside road. After the three waterfalls there is however a mandatory portage on river right due to log jams. (See photos).

The run ends after a short twisting slide, and are able to be seen from the road. Be sure to keep your suit on as tons of hot springs are close by!

P.S. Be sure to watch out for wood, and the drops can be easily portaged on the road that runs alongside

See you on the water!

David Gorski, a Gap Year student

Yesterday afternoon we took an hour drive to the Maichin River, a beautiful class IV run. Although (due to injuries of the back and knee) Katie and I went with David, Andy, Callie, Kyle, and Zoe on a class II-III run on the upper Maichin;  it was still absolutely beautiful and fun. Even relaxing. David helped Kyle and Zoe with their back deck rolls, while Andy helped Callie with her normal roll. I do believe that all three were successful by the end of the run. Katie and I worked on holding our bowstalls and pumping for flatwater loops. It was fun to just get some chill flatwater practice in.

Fruit is officially in season! Yum!

Today classes started. We had orientation in the morning, and then met with all our teachers for the normal periods. It was hard getting back in the swing of things. I think everyone was a bit slow to warm up. Especially me in Calculus. Ugh. But we have a fun packed quarter ahead of us, including some spectacular sounding side trips including a couple day horse expedition into the mountains in Patagonia in a couple weeks. So excited!!! I am so glad to be back at school…even if it means homework. Tomorrow Jessica Droujco arrives, and then February 1st we leave for Choshuenco and the Fuy. Expect lots of blogs! We have a really solid group, and I know that the next 7 weeks will be unforgettable.

Ok, Signing off.

Stay Warm!

-Tracy d’Arbeloff

The time off the water did provide me with some great pictures. For our photo class our assignment was to do long exposure shots. The grand fire place provided a great source for lighting as well as the gathering of people. It was hard to get star trails this time around, but the clouds did move relatively fast so that helped to provide some cool night shots. The time spent at the Achibueno was great, no interwebs and limited electricity brought us closer together, but the smell from camping and wet gear may have driven us a little apart, however I am very grateful for dave for organizing such a wonderful string of destinations. High five Dave!
See you on the water!

Photo by Taylor Cote

Over a beautiful Thanksgiving meal high up in the Andes in a remote lodge on the banks of the Achibueno, the New River Academy enjoyed an inspired poetry reading. Zoe Ross read aloud the poem which was a collaborative effort of the American Literature Class. Zoe, Clay Whitiker, Alex Anderson and Eric Bartl had slaved away on this poem for four consecutive days while we were in Pichilemu, sitting on the beach and using the surf and sand as inspiration. They used their vocab words in the poem; and you could see the jaws drop as they rhymed Convivial with Unbelievable and Unspeakable, Eremitic with Roll the Credits, and many more….Taylor Cote, my ultra-creative creative writing student, read her own poem, the product of many hours of class and free time. Hers utilized an intricate rhyme scheme that pulled us right into her words, and she mentioned every single one of us in her epic.  There was a collective murmur of delight when she rhymed “the scenery is breathtaking, even though we be test taking…” Double syllabic feminine rhymes rock!!

Matt Hill read two poems he wrote, both old fashion ballads utilizing an abab rhyme scheme. He is a buddy Robert Frost, which makes me, his Vermonter English Teacher, extremely proud.

Tracy d’Arbeloff and David Hughes read aloud from Pablo Neruda in both English and Spanish, and Tino Specht gave us an unusual treat by reading an EE Cummings poem in both languages as well. EE Cummings takes his poetic licence off-roading, so to speak, and he is a challenge to read aloud in English. So cheer to Tino for the beautiful reading in Spanish! Eric Bartl read aloud from Robert Frost’s The Road Less Taken, The official New River Academy Poem. And I read two poems, one I wrote in creative writing which I’ll post here, and one that I wrote nine years ago, when I attended a traveling adventure high school.

It was a lively, peaceful and rare gem of an evening.  There was candle light, fire light, steam on the thick glass windows and outside  a sky blazing with stars and a white moon. Inside we listened to one another, applauded each other, and each gave a small speech of personal thanks to each other, our families, the school, the country of Chile, and the people at home who helped us get here.

Thank you! We are so grateful!

–Melina

For a little while after camp I gave both schools some thought, but then I went back to my previous school in Steamboat Springs for another year. Half way through the year I realized that there was absolutely no way that I could continue with the current predicament. Midway through winter I started to hit a slump, I couldn’t kayak, and was feeling bored with a monotous routine. Sifting through a pile of random papers the New River Academy booklet fell out and prompted the thought about a kayaking high school again. One of my friends who I used to go to school with, Griff Griffith, who was and still is a student at World Class, so I decided to hit him up for some information, he provided valid points on the benefits of going to a kayaking high school.

Earlier this summer again at Keeners Kayak camp I met David  Hughes, founder/headmaster/instructor. Let me back up. So in the spring my parents promised that  if I worked hard in the previous school and improved my people skills then they would let me apply to World Class. I had chosen WCKA because of Griff Griffith and the things that he said about the school. Back to Keeners. So during Keeners I David questioned him relentlessly about New River Academy. I was interested in exploring and kayaking South America. I had just been to Peru, World Class’ destination, and I discovered NRA was going to Chile. I had never been to Chile, so that was a bit of a deciding factor, to go somewhere new.

As it turned out New River Academy has a base in Pucon with it’s own playhole. I thought, “Wow, having your own home base in a foreign country has a ton of benefits like added safety, comfort and even just enjoyability.” I also met Stephen Forester, a current New River Academy student, and Sam Fulbright, an alumni. After listening to them talk with my parents my decisions had come to end.

I chose NRA for factors like: Their use of the Keeners Ottawa riverside base versus camping, the Chile destination, a stable Chile base, a reputable safety record, past students and just some persuasion from Sam, Stephen and David.

Still my parents had not fully committed to the idea of a kayaking high school. This is where Sam, Stephen and Dave addressed parent concerns like academics and safety. When my mom came to pick me up after Keeners, we had a long sit down with David as well as conversations with Sam and Stephen. This had my mom convinced, my dad was a little harder to sway.

Help came in the form of Eugene Buchanan, founder of Paddlinglife.net, friend and team mate on my dad’s hockey team. I intern at Paddlinglife.net and I had told David about this during the summer. David contacted Eugene with the idea of creating a Paddling Life Academic Scholarship helping my family financially. At the same time I would be learning photo journalism skills and responsible for my financial assistance. My father liked the concept of learning and working for the scholarship and agreed to enroll in New River Academy.

That’s my story of how I chose New River Academy. Be sure to look for my photos and blog posts appearing on Paddlinglife.net and my NRA Matt Hill Blog.

Thanks go to: David Hughes, Eugene Buchanan, Sam Fulbright, Stephen Forester, and greatest of all Amy and Dave Hill a.k.a Mom and Dad, you’ve made all the difference!

See you on the water!

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]]> http://www.newriveracademy.org/kayakblog/why-i-chose-new-river-academy/feed/ 0 http://www.newriveracademy.org/kayakblog/new-river-academycoaches-report-with-tino-specht/ http://www.newriveracademy.org/kayakblog/new-river-academycoaches-report-with-tino-specht/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:47:30 +0000 Tino Specht http://www.newriveracademy.org/kayakblog/?p=1429 Hello All,

Tino Specht Checking in here with a very late but needed coaches report. Now that my blog is up and running you can expect to see these weekly or more.

We have had a very exciting quarter so far with a ton of huge waves starting on the Ottawa River and then some amazing river running on the Gauley and Upper Yaugh rivers.

Our first destination was the Ottawa River stationed in Beachburg, Ontario. The Ottawa is known for its warm water and perfect play features but before we could get out surfing we had to run our safety clinic which teaches basic to advanced techniques of rescue and group dynamics. Here is the short video, video class put together to give you guys a peek into our first safety training.

Our weekly paddling schedule looks something like this.

Monday: Safety Training and Freestyle Technique ( we like to start our weeks off with safety training and a new technique every day, this way the athletes have safety fresh in their minds the rest of the week as well as being able to build upon their already solid river rescue foundation)

Tuesday: Safety Training and Freestyle Technique

Wednesday: Race Day and Down River Training ( On this day we scout extensively rapids together as a group and then hold some sort of a river race. This helps the athletes to pick apart a rapid and identify where they want to go with the easiest fastest lines that take the least effort or the safest lines)

Thursday: Freestyle Training ( We pick two moves a day and work intensively on them. This gives the athletes the confidence to try the moves on their own. Its all about getting over that first hump)

Friday: Competition Day ( All the skills and technique that the athletes have been working on all week comes to a point and they get to test themselves against their personal goals and their piers)

West Virginia

Since coming down to West Virginia we have had some epic days on the Gauley River since it is in our back yard. ( I know tough life eh?) The Gauley is loaded with great playspots for our freestyle training but the really cool thing about this river is that you can make it as hard or easy as you want to. Its perfect for the whole group. The river doesn’t run during the week so we have been doing tons of other outdoor activities after school. Frisbee Golf is a favorite of everyone and Dave Hughes learned that when you take a bunch of incredible young athletes and introduce them to a new game, they are going to get better than you very quickly. Anyway. Just a quick update of whats going on here.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Tino

Frisbee Golf

After an Amazing Turkey Dinner

Tino And Dave Flying the Helicopter

The Family After A Swimming Session

Taylor and Tracy making and amazing Dinner

Alex Scouting a hole on the Ottawa River during a Safety Class

Clay Throwing a rope to real someone in during a safety class on the Ottawa River

Yours Truly Doing a Pan Am on Corner Wave

Eric Showing that he doesn't need a paddle!

Enjoy!

See you on the water!