This was one of my favorite experiences in Outdoor Ed. It was in the middle of winter 2009. Mr. Carlson brought some blind folds up to the cabin on our weekly Outdoor Ed class. Once we reached the cabin he took us over to an open area near the cabin and gave us blind folds to put on. He told us, “Here’s the story. You are all up in a mountain and it is very bright and you all got snow blind. You have to build a fire or you will die. Today’s task is to get a fire going while blind folded, I wont help you at all. Go!”. We all looked at him like he was crazy. Its hard enough to get a fire going in the winter, but he wants us to get a fire going while blind folded. So we began our attempt to complete the seemingly impossible.
Gabriel Short instantly took the role of a leader and started asking certain people to go get wood, to stay at the camp, to go get birch bark, and to make sure everyone that was getting wood knew where the campsite was by calling to them whenever they started to come back. It was very difficult to wander through the woods looking for trees and trying to grab branches off of the base of them for the fire. It was very helpful to have some of the others there at the fire calling out to us when we began to come back to the fire to drop off some branches. As we all kept bringing branches and eventually moving to bringing big sticks, Gabe asked Mr. Carlson for a match. We all surrounded the campsite to eagerly wait to hear the crackling of a fire. Gabe struck a match and placed it under the sticks. He then asked some of us to grab some of the other sticks that were around the campsite that we got earlier, and then he said to break them up into smaller pieces (about a foot long) so they would be the next thing to place on the fire. We did as he said and soon we heard the crackling of a fire. Mr. Carlson was very impressed and told us to take off our blind folds. We saw our fire and we survived!
We completed the fire in 45 minutes, which is very good! Without the help and participation of everyone, we wouldn’t have been able to do it in the time we did and we probably wouldn’t have been able to complete it in one match either.
By Kenneth Kelley
Tags: Student's Experiences
For any of you who are wondering, my name is Sara Brown, and I am adding the Bios of the staff and Board Members to the website. I work for the Northport School District in the Homelink Program, and I also have the privilege of living on the edge of town right at the base of Silvercrown Mountain. I have had the pleasure of walking the trails and visiting the lake and cabin. What a wonderful place! I am happy to be helping SMOS and I am excited about their plans, and the mission of the school. Stay tuned……more to come.
After many hours of work the directors (and a few others) finished the application for tax exempt status. The massive 80-something page document is in the hands of the postal service now. Thanks goes out to everyone who helped and all those that gave us their support. Thanks!
The first SMOS and Northport Lions Club sponsored soccer camp went very well. We had three groups of players ages 4 to 13 years with skill level ranging from beginner to select level players. The players enjoyed learning new skills and reviewing old skills. They enthusiastically applied these skills in games and scrimmage situations. Their excitement increased during the 3 hour, three day camp. We are looking forward to next year’s camp.
playing line soccer
group photo (not all participants shown)
We decided to accommodate the many families in the area that have multiple children. The initial price for the youth soccer camp was reduced to $25. Two siblings get in for $40. And any additional siblings after that are just $10 more. So a family of 4 will only have to pay $60. Each child gets a tee-shirt too!