Spring 2025 Mountain Classroom off-campus program participants continue their adventures throughout the West Coast and the American Southwest! In this double post, we catch up with the group after they participated in an intensive Wilderness First Aid certification course and spent time with visiting faculty members during "adjunct weekend." First, Nate '26 recounts the group's hands-on medical training with experienced instructors, where students mastered everything from CPR to trauma management through realistic (and sometimes dramatic!) emergency scenarios. Then, Frances '25 shares a candid window into the small moments and unexpected discoveries in the piece, "22 Things I Learned During Adjunct Weekend," as the group welcomed special guests Alicia Barry '15 (Director of Financial Aid, Associate Director of Admission) and science teacher Jeffrey Prado (former Mountain Classroom instructor) for rainy-day adventures, impromptu geology lessons, and the universal truth that Chipotle can always accommodate a large group—even on Easter weekend. Read more below and stay tuned for an upcoming post featuring a student's reflection on their solo experience!
Nate '26 - Wilderness First Aid in Big Sur
With the puzzle of Mountain Classroom operating at full speed, the wilderness first aid course takes a fascinating approach to teaching students new skills. The students took on an adventurous first day of training in beautiful Big Sur, CA. Emily, a 25-year firefighting veteran, showed this group the ropes when it comes to saving people in the backcountry. It all started with a strenuous two-hour morning course where we learned CPR. We then were taught how to treat and dress deep wounds along with how to dictate if the patient needs to be evacuated. The terms "little sick" and "big sick" were very useful terms throughout the course to determine how much of an emergency each and every rescue is. This part was taught by Vanessa, an active airvac EMT.
Emily then guided us through different scenarios that might arise. I was given the scene of a dad base jumping that had fallen off a bridge with his baby. It turns out that I had a stroke, and my baby suffered extreme brain damage, and we both needed to be taken out immediately. Thankfully, my First Aid responders came in for a daring rescue, even in my very critical condition. The very next afternoon at Whale Point, I was given the scene of a partygoer who had suffered a glass wound from falling through a glass door. The students treated me, put the dressing inside the wound, and also treated me for some very serious fractures.
The whole two days all came to the last second for our final project of saving an extremely injured Henry Wagler who had fallen on his kayak and had somehow fallen off and thankfully landed on the sand. With his guts out and some serious brain trauma, the exciting and highly anticipated final rescue came down to the last second. A highly trained group of Proctor students had a very strenuous evac, ending with little time left on the clock and Henry stuffed with a sleeping bag, tarp, and emergency blanket. Finally, Emily and Vanessa gave us the pass, which certified us as Wilderness First Aid trainees. After two days of fun with Emily, Vanessa, Emi, Ted, and the amazing Mountain Classroom crew, we said a bittersweet goodbye to California.
Frances '25 - 22 Things I Learned During Adjunct Weekend
1. How to cook for fourteen people. Jeffrey Alicia joined us! It is actually more difficult than it looks to plan a meal for two more people than usual, especially when you have been cooking for twelve for a month. But the tacos were really yummy.
2. The Proctor Health Center sends yummy lolly pops in the mail drop. We still have a few left over.
3. Trash cans should go in the trailer at night, and also javelinas really like trash. The wild pigs might have gotten into our trash that night, and you can ask Alicia; they make really weird noises. Surprisingly, this was our first trash break-in in Mountain, and now we put the trash away at night.
4. Janet is on vacation with her family. We met Janet on the way to the bathrooms on the first day at Camp Avalon, and throughout the rest of the weekend, we would hear all her stories.
5. Rainy day = Good town day. It turns out rainy days are the perfect days to do laundry and go to Goodwill. We had a wonderful awning outside of the laundromat to investigate possible places for our student-led expedition. So, we found a way to stay dry.
6. A rainy day is when the sand turns into mud. Sadly, our campsite was made of sand, so we got a little muddy and wet when we had to move our kitchen.
7. Library bathrooms are great places to change out of wet and muddy clothes.
8. It snows in Arizona in mid-April. Walking out of the library, we were greeted by some big snow chunks falling from the sky - a little reminder of home.
9. On Easter weekend, no restaurant can seat 12 people with no reservation.
10. Chipotle always has room. You can always count on Chipotle to have room for 12 people, even if a lot of those 12 people are feeling a little sick and don't finish their burrito bowls.
11. Watching the movie "Drop" is a wonderful way to spend the evening. It was a very entertaining movie, partially because of the plot and partially because of the screen, which we hadn't seen in just under a month.
12. Sleeping bags are still warm even when they are wet. That night, we realized maybe our tents weren't in the best spot for big amounts of rain. But our trusty sleeping bags kept us warm and were dry on the inside.
13. It is really hard to find parking for a 12-passenger bus at trailheads over Easter weekend. You have to find a really empty visitors center with a little trail.
14. Jeffrey knows a lot about the geology of the Colorado Plateau. He shared his knowledge with us, and now we know a lot about the geology of the Colorado Plateau.
15. Art markets are really cool! Especially in Sedona because people love crystals there.
16. You can make hella good donuts on a front country camp stove. Jeffrey showed us all the possibilities for breakfast food when Alicia and he made us a wonderful breakfast with fresh fruit bowls and croissants.
17. There is nowhere to run around Camp Avalon. The only things around Camp Avalon are private properties and switchback roads, so you can run for a total of 15 minutes before running out of places to run.
18. Fun fact -- Camp Avalon has the only private creek access in Sedona! And they have a rope swing and a ladder that leads into the water.
19. Cleaning the bus and trailer takes about an hour and a half. And it is also a perfect time to call your family!
20. One of the only places with cellphone service at Camp Avalon is right outside the bathrooms.
21. Carrot cake from your neighbors tastes really good! The people in the campsite next to us gave us their leftover cake from a birthday that they had and it was the best flavor!
22. Writing response letters takes a surprisingly long time.
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- Mountain Classroom
- Off-Campus Program