Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

Rolling Academy’s Second Expedition a Marked Success

Story by Corinne Saunders

“Rolling Academy was more than a trip; it was a lifetime experience,” said Willis Kennedy, one 10 local high school students selected to participate in the 2008 Rolling Academy. In 12 days, the students traversed more than 1,000 miles on the green Mountain Alliance school bus, passing through 12 states. When they returned, the students reported on their experience at a symposium for parents and friends at Grandfather Mountain on Friday, July 18.

The students left Monday, July 7, for unique, full days of learning outside the classroom. The Western Youth Network (WYN) bused the students to the Charlotte airport, and from there they flew to Portland, Maine.

Their first activity was hiking Mount Washington on four hours of sleep.
The hike kicked off the adventure focused on leadership training, personal growth and especially bonding with each other. All the students attested that the trip made them a family.

Mountain Alliance Director Todd Nolt and co-leaders Joel Barricklow and Shelly Crandall accompanied the students on the trip.

The symposium on July 18 included dinner catered by Bandana’s Barbecue in the nature museum’s cafeteria, followed by a skit, slideshow and video presentations.
Through the presentations, the students recounted their service-learning projects, such as demolishing a garage roof and then re-roofing the structure and painting a shed at Bradford Woodworking, as well as working in an organic garden in Voluntown Peace Trust, Conn. They also told how they learned about marine fisheries and the coastal environment by working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Thatcher’s Island, Mass.

The Mountain Alliance Rolling Academy group did a service project with Cradles to Crayons in Boston, Mass. Cradles to Crayons provides low-income and homeless children from birth to preteen with the basic essentials they need to be safe, warm, ready to learn and valued. Photo courtesy of Joel Barricklow Other adventures included completing a scavenger hunt in Boston, Mass. to learn the history of the city, as well as how to work in small groups to navigate a city, and listening to Prof. Hollingworth—who teaches at both Harvard and Emerson universities—lecture on problem solving, communication and listening skills.
The students “worked through a couple case studies with him dealing with business management,” Nolt said.

Other destinations included Shenandoah National Park and Roanoke, Va.
In their individual speeches, the students shared how the trip taught them tolerance, patience and community, as well as to trust each other and themselves and how to be leaders.

Several framed pictures they took during the trip were sold for $50 each to benefit next year’s Rolling Academy. Nolt also auctioned four handmade stools with axe handle legs, crafted by a Pennsylvania woodworker, for $200 each.
The Rolling Academy is Nolt’s brainchild, and this year marked the second trip. “There’s some excitement in not knowing day-to-day activities ahead of time,” he said.

This spontaneity also demands that participants make spur-of-the-moment leadership choices.

The students were not allowed to use cell phones, Ipods or other technological devices for the duration of the trip.

The advisory board selected the 10 participants from fewer than 30 applicants, and the Rolling Academy was primarily advertised by flyers around Watauga High School and word of mouth, Nolt said.

Next year’s Rolling Academy will feature new destinations and provide 10 new students with similar valuable learning experiences.

For more info, click to www.rollingacademy.org.