Parents couldn’t be more excited, and students couldn’t be more exhausted.
“You did it bro, I’m so proud of you, so proud of you,” shouted father Carlos Smith.
After six days trekking through Pine Mountain Georgia, the Corbett Preparatory seventh grade class was never so happy to be back at school.
Parents, siblings and even pets were all waiting to greet these rugged warriors.
These students have been setting up their own tents, building their own fires, cooking their own food, and even digging their own holes to use the bathroom.
“Yea that was interesting but I think that just made us closer as a group probably,” said student Grace Heller.
Corbett Prep has been taking students on this trip since the 80s. They say it enforces team work, independence, and confidence.
“It takes away some of the cannots in their vocabulary and it brings in the cans. They realize what they can accomplish, and it pushes them,” said parent and teacher Robert Heller.
For many of these students it’s the longest they’ve been away from their families, and maybe even more importantly, the longest they’ve been away from a phone, video game or computer.
“Well I definitely learned I don’t need my electronics as much as I thought I did,” said student Jonathan Terho.”
Teachers say what they learned out there among the trees carries with them into the classroom and through the rest of their adolescence.
“They realize, ‘I am really capable, I am absolutely able to do all of these things, I just spent a week by myself in the woods,’” said teacher Jenn Jagdmann.
