by Shelley Bennett
As Sofia and Leo packed up for Bio Trip this past weekend, it brought back memories from the past 35+ years. In the fall of 1985, I walked into Mr. Archer’s Biology class and I was totally unprepared for what was ahead. I remember he told he was going to take our class (actually ALL of the Bio classes) on a week-long field trip to the northern coast of California. I thought he was crazy.
What adult thought it would be okay to take two hundred or more 16-year-olds about two hundred miles away from Susanville? Where there were cliffs, high tides, and monsoon-like storms? Mr. Jon Archer thought it was a grand idea and slowly he converted us into thinking it was too.
For months we prepared, or at least Arch tried to prepare us and I didn’t listen. He told me to pack rain gear. I took one of those free windbreakers you got with your subscription to Sports Illustrated.
He told us to pack a tent and a tarp to keep the rain off our gear. We found a tarp-like wall tent with a blue and white striped roof that took hours to assemble. It looked more like the circus was in town and it also leaked like a sieve with the first drops of rain.
He told us to bring multiple pairs of socks and warm clothing. I brought my cheerleading jacket that weighed 50 pounds and smelled like a wet dog when it got wet.
But it didn’t matter, it was still one of the highlights of my time at Lassen High and really of my life. What made it so special?
Was it the walk on the James Irvine Trail where I sat in the silence for 30 minutes on a fallen redwood contemplating life and friendships at 16? Was it the sunset at Wedding Rock where I was mesmerized by the golden orb sinking into the wild waves? Was it the experience of sitting in the clear cut that felt hot and sterile compared to the lush forest just a few miles away? Or the sight and smells of a beached whale we discovered while walking along Rim Trail?
Maybe it was the tidepools where I found the tiniest starfish, just as big as the tip of my pinkie? Or the sounds of the stormy ocean that put us to sleep while we camped at Gold Bluff Beach?
It was all of those things, plus two of my best friends Becky and Nikki making us laugh over the stupidest stuff. The inside jokes we had. The way we found strengths we didn’t know existed. The way we survived a week without showers and make-up and curling irons.
Then there was the way our class came together amidst a storm that leveled tents, drenched sleeping bags and clothes, and changed the course of our trip from the drier, slightly more civilized group campground at Patrick’s Point to the rain and sandy conditions of Gold Bluff Beach.
It was the way boys like Bill Dunn and John Boyd stayed up most of the night, digging channels in the sandy ground to divert the water away from tents and reinforcing the stakes so our rain covers didn’t blow away.
It was a group of loyal parents and Mrs. Joan Archer who prepared us delicious and hearty meals of chili-mac to fill our stomachs. I wasn’t that picky of an eater, but I was like, “macaroni and cheese with chili? Ewww”. But I was cold and tired and hungry and probably still wet, and I will always remember that delicious lunch beside the campfire with Joan’s kind words and company.
People who weren’t friends, became friendly. We learned who we could lean on, who we could borrow jackets from. We knew this experience had changed us. We even gave ourselves a name: The Sea Nerds. It was almost as if Mr. Archer knew this was going to happen. Yes, we learned a little bit of biology, but we learned something greater about who we were and where we fit in this world. Who each other was and how they played a part in our lives.
It was very “big picture” stuff for a group of self-absorbed teenagers. It was life changing.
When I was student teaching in 1998, Mr. Archer gave me the opportunity to tag along on the field trip. It had been another stormy season on the coast and I saw kids help each other over fallen trees on trails and down slippery and muddy paths to the tidepools.
Mrs. Carol Glenzer added a motherly aspect to the group, freely passing out candy and advice. She organized skit nights and duct tape fashion shows and entertained us with the infamous “Finger Magic”. Her sense of fun and laughter melded well with Archer’s mission.
I became part of the staff, covering the English section of the curriculum, until Archer’s retirement in 2006. My kids grew up on the trip, Jacob celebrating his first birthday with a camp full of students singing to him with candles and cake. Landon joined us a few years later and Sof was there for our last trip as a family.
All three kids have gone on the trip as students, Landon was a TA, and now Sofia is the Junior Camp Director. I have to think that it was something they were born with. Leo is now the head of the kitchen and kids and staff come back with testimonies of the delicious meals and desserts he prepares.
I hope to have at least one last trip in my career. Maybe next year.
This morning as I dropped off Sofia and saw the busses being loaded with kids, I smiled to myself, and I wished them well. And I hoped for a little rain so they can be tested and find their mettle, what they are truly made of.
Thank you Mr. Archer.
LHS Drive In Movie Night Update: ASB is hosting the Drive In Movie this Friday (5/19) at 7:30 in the LHS main parking lot. They are showing the movie Rio and admission is $3 for those 12 and under and $5 for attendees 13 and over. You are welcome to watch the film from the comfort of your car or bring your own chairs and make yourself comfortable. There will also be concessions for sale.
Remember when news was ‘newsy’? When you read about weddings, family events and engagement announcements in the newspaper? If you have something that might be newsworthy, please submit it to [email protected] and I’ll do my best to include it here in “The Good Stuff.”
