Mountaineer Experience brings classmates together

Campers paddle out on the Twin Lakes in Salisbury.

Provided

Mountaineer Experience brings classmates together

FALLS VILLAGE — Housatonic Valley Regional High School’s halls are still occupied with students, despite summer vacation.

The Summer Mountaineer Experience is a free two week long camp for rising 6th through 9th graders in Region One. Running for the first time in 2021, it was designed to re-establish a sense of self and community through outdoor activities.

The goal of the camp is to give back what the COVID-19 pandemic took from students and create a space for children from all 6 towns to meet before the upcoming school year.

The Summer Mountaineer Experience is co-directed by Barbara Hockstader, Anne Macneil and Jill Pace, each of whom bring in a unique skill set.

Hockstader works in education technology, creating software that directly impacts teachers and school administrators. At the forefront of her work is promoting social and emotional learning. Macneil works as the athletic director at HVRHS and Jill Pace as the library and media specialist at Sharon Center School.

Instructing each group of campers are five high school students as well as Rea Tarsi, a school counselor at Kent Center and Cornwall Consolidated Schools. As “one big team,” they create daily programming that emphasizes learning by doing, specifically in the outdoors.

Overcoming ropes courses at Indian Mountain School builds confidence. Provided

Every morning campers participate in an outdoor activity off-campus. Campers can choose from a high ropes course at Indian Mountain School, paddle boarding and canoing on Twin Lakes, or various local hikes. The high ropes course was run by Eliza Statile, the Director of Outdoor Adventure and Education at IMS. Campers worked together to put on harnesses, hold the ladder and ropes, and cheer each other on. Both the catwalk and high multi-vine elements were open for them to climb. Those at Twin Lakes were instructed by Adam Mayer, Salisbury school teacher and owner of GO Paddleboard CT.

In the afternoons, campers engage in week-long intensive activities, all of which are based at the high school. The options include Art Garage, agriculture education, backyard games, super powers, and flying cloud.

This past week, campers in the ag-ed class learned about solar energy, went berry picking, and made whipped cream. These individual activities led up to the final day where campers baked homemade blueberry cobblers.

At the end of a hike, campers enjoy the view atop the Northwest Corner.Provided

The flying cloud group investigated electronegativity and the ways it is used in everyday life. To further conceptualize this idea, each camper made a speaker for their phones using wood, paper, wires, and magnets.

Super powers, run by Mary O’Neill, is a program for rising 9th graders to process the change that comes with switching schools. Before going home, campers were led through various reflective exercises.

Hockstader emphasized that all activities incorporate the four goals of the camp which are, “to have fun, make new friends, enjoy the outdoors together, and do something new.” “We want to let kids have a space to grow socially and emotionally through activities that they think are fun,” she said.

The camp is funded by a Berkshire Taconic grant and a Summer Mental Health grant from the state. All Star Bus Company is responsible for transporting campers to and from the high school. Hockstader said that the bus drivers “bend over backwards to ensure the safety of these kids.”

Latest News

East Canaan's CowPots to face the 'Sharks'

Amanda Freund of East Canaan will appear on the television show "Shark Tank" on April 4 to pitch CowPots.

Photo by Ruth Epstein

CANAAN — Fans of the television show “Shark Tank,” stay tuned. On Friday, April 4, Amanda Freund of East Canaan will be facing the panel, imploring members to invest in her unique product: cow poop.

Freund and her father Matthew Freund produce and market CowPots, which are made from the abundance of manure found on their dairy farm. Matthew Freund, realizing cows were producing more manure — 100 pounds per cow per day — than was needed for fertilizing fields for crops, came up with the concept of the pots. Years of trial-and-error experimentation finally resulted in success. In 2006 he began selling the biodegradable pots using 100% composted manure to local stores. Now the pots can be found in outlets across the country, as well as internationally.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss lacrosse ices Kingswood Oxford 19-0

LAKEVILLE — The Hotchkiss School opened the girls varsity lacrosse season with a big win in the snow against Kingswood Oxford School.

The Bearcats won 19-0 in a decisive performance March 26. Twelve different players scored for Hotchkiss, led by Coco Sheronas with four goals.

Keep ReadingShow less
HVRHS releases second quarter honor roll

FALLS VILLAGE — Principal Ian Strever announces the second quarter marking period Honor Roll at Housatonic Valley Regional High School for the 2024-2025 school year.

Highest Honor Roll

Grade 9: Parker Beach (Cornwall), Mia Belter (Salisbury), Lucas Bryant (Cornwall), Addison Green (Kent), Eliana Lang (Salisbury), Alison McCarron (Kent), Katherine Money (Kent), Mira Norbet (Sharon), Abigail Perotti (North Canaan), Karmela Quinion (North Canaan), Owen Schnepf (Wassaic), Federico Vargas Tobon (Salisbury), Emery Wisell (Kent).

Keep ReadingShow less
Thomas Ditto

ANCRAMDALE — Thomas Ditto of Ancramdale, born Thomas David DeWitt Aug. 11, 1944 in New York City changing his surname to Ditto at marriage, passed peacefully on Pi Day, March 14, 2025. He was a husband, father, artist, scientist, Shakespeare scholar, visionary, inventor, actor, mime, filmmaker, clown, teacher, lecturer, colleague, and friend. Recipient of numerous grants, awards and honors in both the arts and sciences, a Guggenheim and NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow, he was a creative genius beyond his time. In addition to authoring scores of papers, he held several patents and invented the first motion capture system and the Ditto-scope, a radically new kind of telescope. He was a pioneer in computer generated video, film, and performance.

When not hard at work, he was always there to help when needed and he knew how to bring smiles to faces. He loved his family and pets and was supportive of his wife’s cat rescue work.

Keep ReadingShow less