Students bond in nature — sans phones

School-facilitated camping trips provide an opportunity to get teens into the outdoors and unplug

By Mike Lynch

Students at Lake Placid High School are getting an opportunity to see the Adirondacks in a new way with their peers, disconnected from technology but bonded by conversation and being in the moment. 

For the past two school years, students have been taking four-day camping trips with WOODS (Wilderness Opportunity to Offer and Develop Skills), a private business that operates on land owned by Paul Smith’s College north of Saranac Lake. The campouts are organized by Carolyn Walton, who has more than 10 years of experience leading trips and wilderness therapy.  

The outings consist of about 10 students, a teacher and guides. Participants sleep in tents, spend the days in the woods and eat food cooked over a campfire. The guides make sure the students are properly outfitted and protected from the elements, particularly when winter camping. 

Students are discouraged from bringing phones and generally leave them behind. They are more apt to disconnect from technology and the stresses of the world and immerse themselves in nature and the moment. 

Campfire conversations are fixtures. Students sit in a circle and open up about their experiences. 

Freshman Margaret Thatcher participated in November and said the absence of phones played a big role in fostering conversation. Students learned about peers they had gone to school with for years but had hardly spoken to.

“We’ve learned things about each other that we didn’t know before,” Thatcher said. 

Lake Placid Principal Theresa Lindsay said school leaders became interested in the program after being approached by Walton.

“It’s definitely something that we recognized as a district that we live in this magnificent area but so many of our kids, for a variety of different reasons, don’t get to spend time out in the woods or to explore.”

Lake Placid Principal Theresa Lindsay

Students have reported to Lindsay that not having their phones would be the biggest challenge. “But once they get settled in after a day or two, they don’t even think about their cell phone,” she said. 

Lindsay said the school, which has 154 students in grades 9-12, has $30,000 available in the budget for six trips during the 2023-2024 school year. Students’ families don’t have to pay anything. Participation has dictated there may only be five campouts this year. There have been three trips so far and another two are anticipated in the spring: one for senior boys and another for senior girls. 

“This gives our kids an opportunity, when they get into the woods, to see people in a different light,” Lindsay said. 

Freshman Emma Clark went on a girls trip for freshmen in November. She said it pushed her out of her comfort zone but in a good way. The students had to deal with frigid weather and difficult and sometimes sad conversations about challenges they are facing in their lives.

“It was a real bonding experience,” she said.