Walden West: Mountains, Wind, and Wintergreen Mints

If UC Berkeley was like visiting “a city,” EnCompass Academy 5th-graders’ four-day experience at Walden West was momentous in a much different way. “A lot of students hadn’t been to the woods before,” says Villegas. “It was very new for them.”

“It felt fresh,” reflects Arayia. “There was no technology. All there is: wind and mountains and trees.”

“When we saw the mountains and all of that,” recalls Rahjae, “I thought that if we don’t save the earth, then there won’t be a lot of places like this left.”

Beyond environmental awareness and hands-on science learning, three nights in the Santa Cruz Mountains was a lesson in independence as well. Case in point: The night hike, with only the moon and their fellow students’ voices as their guide. “They learned how to depend on themselves and each other instead of on [fellow 5th-grade teacher] Mrs. Padilla and I, or their parents,” reflects Villegas. “It also strengthened friendships and created a safe space for them to feel supported by their classmates.”

At the end of the night hike, camp counselors handed out wintergreen mints, telling the kids to chew them up. The cracking mints glowed and sparked in the huge darkness, lighting up the night in a way that looked nothing like the streetlamps and headlights of Oakland.

“I felt different after the trip,” reflects Arayia. “When we came back, I think I was just a little calmer for a while, because we had come from such a calm place.”