For information on the 2008 Annual Walk and Rock, June 1, visit the WA Jimmy Fund's club Web page.


URBAN EXPEDITION
Approximately 50 eighth graders from the Worcester Academy Middle School are participating in a three-day Urban Expedition with New York City Outward Bound.  The experience is meant to help students "challenge their perceptions of the city, their peers, and, most significantly, themselves."

READ BLOGS ABOUT THIS STUDENT EXPERIENCE.

According to Eliza Hale, a Middle School art teacher and the trip's coordinator, this is the first time Worcester Academy has worked with New York City Outward Bound.

She noted that the students are divided into four crews of 12 students, with two Outward Bound instructors and one Worcester Academy teacher per crew. The team leaders are Eliza Hale; Lisa Iaccarino, Middle School English; Laura Ottaviani, Middle School Counselor; and Peter Smith, Middle School technology teacher.

A particularly interesting part of the trek is the effort to connect students with folks already connected to Worcester Academy, Ms. Hale said.

As an example, students are meeting Michael Shulan '70, Creative Director for the World Trade Center Memorial Museum. They are also meeting Ira E. Stoll '90, Managing Editor and VP of the New York Sun newspaper.

Also by special arrangement, students are to meet Dr. Daniel Paul Matthews (rector at Trinity Church in New York during 9/11).  Dr. Matthews is the grandfather of three current Worcester Academy students, Neil '10, Daley '12, and Danny '14 Baldwin.

According to New York City Outward Bound, it has seen an increased interest in the Urban Expedition program for schools outside New York as a powerful way to experience a challenging Outward Bound program in a nontraditional format.

For Worcester Academy students, that entails asking, "Do I dare disturb the universe?" – a class theme they thought about throughout the school year. While on their urban expedition, students will more deeply consider both their potential impact on the global community, as well as their own power to influence their local community, by engaging in service projects at a variety of social service organizations.

Instructors also will encourage students to draw parallels and understand differences between their community in Worcester, MA, and New York City.  Students will also meet community activists, business people, entrepreneurs, public school students, artists, and everyday New Yorkers, to appreciate what the city means to the people who live there.

Activities include Chinatown food initiatives, blindfolded bridge walks, strategic interviews on subways and in parks, and rock-climbing in industrial Long Island City. Students will also practice leadership by navigating themselves through the city, including the far reaches of the Boroughs.