Sterling Terrain V02 - Flipbook - Page 36
34 | Sterling College
What Did We Learn?
There is no doubt that the High Sierra program is packed with charismatic content. Students learn montane
forest ecology from pine-oak forests to treeline, and alpine ecology from rich mesic meadows to stark snowscoured talus slopes. We learn about how the crystalline structure of specific bodies of granite results in domes
or splintered ridgelines, and how two million years of glaciation tears the place to pieces, yet still makes it rise
even higher. We learn how to read analog topographic maps, how to navigate off trail over high passes, how to
travel on snow and self-arrest with an ice tool, how to manage camp in wind and snow, and how to cook tasty
nutritious meals for our teammates even when the sky is opening up for another round of piercing alpine sun, or
cold, pelting rain. And we get to practice these skills over and over again until we are good.
But none of this content is what is most important. What is most important is that we learn how to live. Wilderness-based education affords us an intimate, immediately relevant, and supremely focused learning environment that is uniquely conducive to personal growth and transformation. The magic formula includes five
important things: 1) a long period of unbroken time; 2) whole, healthy ecosystems; 3) a small group of people with
shared intentions; 4) an integrated curriculum that educates the whole person; and 5) qualified, experienced
mentors. The Wilderness Field Program is designed to integrate these five elements. We learn that under these
conditions, purpose becomes self-evident. With a sense of purpose, we begin to assume responsibility. As we
assume responsibility, we become empowered. As we become empowered, we take on greater and greater challenges. Overcoming these challenges allows for further growth and transformation and an increasing sense of
true freedom. I think this is what the ancestors were going for when they coined the term liberalis ars: the worthy
pursuits of a free person.