Themes & Types of Trips
| Kroka Expeditions works with each teacher or
group leader to create a unique wilderness experience that meets
the group’s specific needs. Below are some of the common
themes we have developed over the years. |
GRADUATING CLASS TRIPS
are structured as Rites of Passage experiences. The graduating class
will travel together learning intense technical and interpersonal
skills that are necessary for the success of their wilderness expedition.When
these essential skills have been learned, students go through a
“test” where they demonstrate their competence as a
group in the areas of navigation, camp skills, teamwork, and a respectful
relationship with the land. Having passed the test, students are
then given an opportunity to symbolically pass from childhood into
adulthood by traveling without adults to their trip’s final
destination; their “group solo.”
END OF THE YEAR CLASS TRIPS are celebrations
of time together as a family of classmates. Through their journey,
students reflect on the past years and look into the years to come.
A wilderness challenge allows students to see qualities in their
classmates that haven’t blossomed in the classroom environment.
Studying and living close to nature helps students to focus on their
future as the Earth’s stewards and brings a renewed enthusiasm
for learning that will carry them through the summer and into the
next school year.
COMMUNITY BUILDING TRIPS
provide an opportunity
for everyone to play a meaningful role in a true challenge.
We are dropped off at a trailhead many miles from our
pick-up spot.We must work together.We have to learn what
everyone’s strengths are and utilize them to their fullest
potential.We quickly learn each other’s weaknesses and learn
how to accept people better: in the face of challenge, no one
can hide behind the image of “who they’d like to be.”
Everyone in the group is needed for all to succeed, and no
one can be left behind. Tasks are clear and real: gather wood,
make a fire, cook a meal: these things will make us warm. Set
camp before the rain hits: this will keep us dry. Follow the
map, learn your strokes, communicate with your partner: this
will keep us safe and on track to our destination.Work your
hardest, put other’s interests before your own and the journey
will be blessed by a warm feeling of comradery. This very real
life experience will have a profound effect on the level of
teamwork and mutual respect in your class any time of year.
ACADEMIC TRIPS
are set in nature’s own classroom with
a boundless resource library of rivers, mountains and forests.
Our teaching staff includes moose, eagle, bear, gnomes, trolls
and other respected teachers. Some of the academic areas that
can be incorporated into your trip include: ecology, geology,
geography, cartography, meteorology, history, Native
American studies, hydrology, creative writing, and nature
drawing. Other topics of study can also be arranged. Kroka
Expeditions’ teachers can teach an entire unit or enrich your
classroom studies with hands-on experiences.
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