RKMP A Trek Back

A Trek Back�The Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program 1993 - 2007

Tapping trees, 1950’s

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From a naturalist’s point of view, it was indeed serendipi-tous that Glenny Farm was for sale when Seaver Buck was ready toopen his school for boys. The Headmaster instilled a strong workethic in the students through utilization of all that the land beneathMount Everett provided. In the formative years of the school andwhen times were lean and expenses had to be cut during the war,the farm provided the milk, cream, butter and vegetables served atmeals. As the school grew, faculty worked with students on outdoorendeavors which improved the campus interweaving an appreciationfor, and an exploration of the mountain with classical classroom teaching. Some early initiatives instructed stu-dents on how to tap the mountain’s natural resources through team participation:

• The Berkshire Outing Club was formed; among its endeavors was the building of a ski jump and tobog-gan slide; eventually, a rope tow (with its various wheels, weights and pulleys) was installed by the boysand their teachers.

• As members of The Trail Squad, students and faculty felled trees and removed brush to create the trailsenjoyed today for hiking and skiing. They also cleared a portion of land leading to The Appalachian Trail; a path today known as The Elbow Trail. Maintenance of these trails would comprise future fall and springwork for the squad.

• Whenever possible, the decorations for public events were gathered from the surrounding flora.• The tapping of maple trees became an annual winter endeavor with students and faculty building the

first sugar house for processing the sap.• When the flood of 1955 tore through the campus, bridges were replaced by faculty and students. • In the 50s, when equipment was acquired, climbing and boating expeditions became part of the athletic

schedule. Faculty often taught outdoors when the weather cooperated and began to use the “naturalclassroom” more and more. The seasonal Watch and Adventure programs were established and becamepart of the curriculum.

A Retrospective of

The Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program

Clockwise from top: studentsharvesting potatoes, 1907;founder Seaver Buck; studentsat their chores, 1930’s

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During the 1991-1992 academic year, the administration and faculty were hard atwork firming up their ideal “Mountain Program,” which outlined twenty goals topresent to the Trustees. When Peter Rittenhouse “Ritt” Kellogg, Jr. ’85 died on June24, 1992 in an avalanche on a mountain top in Alaska, it had a profound effect thou-sands of miles away at the school he loved. Though the community lost a vital alum-nus, when donations began to accrue toward a memorial in Ritt’s honor, the“Mountain Committee” (comprised of faculty who knew of Ritt’s love for climbingand ecology) worked even more diligently. As Ritt’s legacy, the committee developed aprogram for every student to connect with Berkshire’s natural environment throughacademic courses and through structured, firsthand experiences in nature. The com-mittee completed its final proposal in May 1993, and a letter of gratitude was sent tothe Berkshire community announcing that, through the generosity of his friends and

family, the newly endowed Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program was about to become a reality. In preparation, Don Morley, a Spanish teacher and integral member of the Mountain Committee, used his

sabbatical in the fall of 1993 to renew his skills by mountain biking in Moab, rafting the Colorado River, solomountain climbing in Escalante, and backpacking in the Maze district of Canyonlands National Park. Uponhis return he led four students on the first official outing of the new RKMP’s Winter Wilderness Adventureprogram to the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine. The same year, he and three students attempted thesummit of Cotopaxi in Ecuador, but turned back due to altitude sickness. They made a successful secondattempt in 1996. By the fall of 1994, the fundamental ideals of the program were well implemented, givingBerkshire the finest secondary school outdoor program in America.

The RKMP has prospered for several reasons: it began with an excellent and well established foundation of out-door activities; it has been nourished through the years by dedicated, committed, and like-minded faculty; the stu-dent members have embraced the program’s ideals and their role as stewards of the natural world; and, by loyaldonors who have continued to contribute annually to the program.

Information for the following timeline was culled from the annual RKMP newsletters, which often includeonly the highlights of the year’s events. Therefore, what is reported in the timeline is only a partial picture ofall that is accomplished. Nevertheless, we hope you will agree that 100 years later Seaver Buck’s vision forBerkshire continues, indeed flourishes, through this vital program.

Trail Squad with Art Chase (far left) andTwiggs Myers (second from right), 1960’s

Students on the mountain, 1920’s

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The first Director of the RKMP is named: Mark Livsey, Coordinator of Environmental Education

� Third Form Experiential Education Program is initiated (eventually knownas the Third Form English/Ropes Course Program). Four different sessionson the ropes course will be held during the fall for all third form students.They will receive written assignments to correspond to the activities andchallenges they face on the course.

� Founder Tyson Kaman ’96 and six other students comprise the MountainBiking team’s pilot program that is added to the Spring Watch program thefollowing year. The squad trains five to six days a week participating inevents in the greater New England area.

� Fall Wilderness Adventure is added to parallel the Winter and Spring WildernessAdventure programs.

� Ten members undertake the first spring vacation trip to Joshua Tree NationalPark in California for rock climbing and backpacking in the desert.

� Environmental Science is added to the curriculum and a study of ozone gas con-centration at the base of Mount Everett begins with support from the RKMP.

� Five faculty members complete the American Canoe Association’s course insafety and instruction resulting in several local canoe trips to train studentsin safety, flatwater paddling on the Housatonic, and whitewater maneuversthrough a section of river in Falls Village, Connecticut.

� The Watch Program is provided with three new canoes and a trailer.

� Twelve members complete a 24-hour First Responder Course and RKMPadds a rescue sled and full first-responder kit to its equipment.

� A twelve-person team explores Schenob Brook and other local streams, lakes andponds to classify flora and fauna and conclude their adventure with an overnighton Mount Alander in Copake, New York in the Fall Watch program.

� Eight members of the Winter Wilderness Adventure ascend Mount Adamsin New Hampshire, the second highest peak in New England (4,400 ft) butare thwarted in their efforts by a blizzard. Since the inception of the wilder-ness adventure programs, members have already climbed the highest mountains in four states.

� Annually, faculty members are to be sponsored in wilderness medicine/safetycourses.

� Seven members complete a 14-day trip to Sawtooth National RecreationArea in Idaho, where they partake in rock climbing, fly fishing, white-waterrafting, and backpacking.

� The following sixth-formers begin work on an illustrated field guide of the treeson campus; Dan Feldman (field work, writer and editor), Sarah Hermans (illus-trator) and Mark Hancock (head naturalist, primary writer and researcher).

Fall 1994 through Summer ’95

Don Morley (left) andMark Livsey in Equador.

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Fall 1995 through Summer ’96Don Morley, 20-year Spanish teacher, takes over the reins as Director

� Faculty Staff Members of the RKMP: Jen Gaenzle, assistant to the dean ofstudents; Peter Kinne, environmental science teacher; Hilary Russell, Englishteacher; Eric Austin, mathematics teacher; Frank Barros, science teacher; AlBredenfoerder, mathematics teacher; Rob Clements, chaplain; Heather Forrest,Spanish teacher; Steven Craig, English teacher; Jeremy LaCasse ’90, historyteacher; and Robert Wiley, WFA instructor.

� A climbing wall is constructed in the athletic center and, during AlumniWeekend, over thirty alumni attempt the climb to the top hand hold.

� Annually, faculty members are to be sponsored in wilderness medicine/safety courses.

� Spring Watch adds fishing and nature illustration to its program with outings infly fishing and artistry on the Green and Konkapot Rivers, and Schenob andAlander Brooks, resulting in excellent drawings of spring wildflowers for thewalls of Chevalier Lodge.

� Watch Program establishes The Cedar Box Awards; “Most Reliable Fall Watcher”goes to Crystal Mendez ’98 and “Best Naturalist” to Andrew Bartlett ’97.

� All students participating in the RKMP will take the Red Cross Standard FirstAid and Adult CPR course that will be repeated every two years.

� RKMP sponsors a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course on campus.

� Two faculty members participate in the International Conference of OutdoorRecreation and Education (ICORE) workshops that include developing studentleaders, orientation programs and litigation issues in outdoor education, forestcanopy access techniques and ideas for utilizing a climbing wall.

� January’s trip to Mount Monadnock in NewHampshire (skiing and snowshoeing expedi-tion) becomes a hike instead due to suddenmild weather.

� Seven students and four adults reach the summit of Mount Katahdin, the north-ern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. This trip consisted of a 12-mile ski haul-ing sleds and backpacks. Overnight temperatures fell to -10ºF and in the morn-ing a 3.5 mile hike commenced to base camp. Temperatures at zero the next dayfor the ascent of Saddle Trail to the Tableland and south to the summit didn’tdeter the victorious team.

� Mark Livsey accompanies Don Morley to lead three students on the most ambi-tious and successful expedition in the history of the RKMP to date: a 20-daymountaineering course in the Andes of Ecuador to attempt the summits ofCotopaxi and Chimborazo. The Berkshire banner flies at 19,348 feet above sealevel on August 3rd atop Cotopaxi, but a sudden snow storm forces the team toturn back from their ascent of Chimborazo.

� Wet weather survival techniques are emphasized in the Fall Watch program’sthird trip to the Catskills as two inches of rain accumulate during sixty-mile-per-hour winds followed by a snow storm!

� RKMP continues to work with local conversation organizations such as TheSheffield Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and Appalachian Trail Club (bymaintaining the Elbow Trail), The Trustees of Reservations and theMassachusetts Audubon Society via lectures and outings in conjunction withPeter Kinne’s ecology class.

� The sixth-form Watch independent study field guide results in the publication ofThe Berkshire Tree Guide, a twenty-one page saddle-bound booklet with illustra-tions and maps.

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RKMP holds the first orientation program exposing new students to numerous mountain activities

� Don Morley attends an ICORE conference at University of Utah on RiskManagement in Outdoor Education: He learns how to build a backcountry yurt,trains on their climbing walls, and gathers tips on developing student leaders.

� Three faculty members attend a Wilderness Risk Managers Conference inUtah.

� Peter Kinne is asked by The College Board of Princeton to instruct a pilotprogram in Advanced Placement Environmental Science at Berkshire.

� In his role as director of technical climbing, Frank Barros trains nine stu-dents as core supervisors for the climbing wall.

� Eric Gunderson ’98, Ben Cheney ’98 and John Knowlton ’99, build ultra-light solo canoes. Their goal is for a dozen boat kits to be cut out by wintervacation based on their prototype.

� Activities of the Fall Watch program include bushwhacking Yagar Pond,exploring Ice Glen, canoeing and camping through local terrain, re-blazingupper ends of Mount Everett trails and cutting white-ash Biltmore sticks tomeasure height and diameter of standing trees. Bayard Blain ’97 wins “BestNaturalist Award.”

� Katie Shea ’97 works with Massachusetts Department of EnvironmentalManagement mapping the natural resources of Berkshire campus.

� Robin McGraw ’70, paramedic and member of the South Egremont FireDepartment and the Berkshire County Search and Rescue Team, volunteersto revitalize the RKMP’s mountain-rescue team procedures.

� Alumni Bruce Fina ’85 and Andrew Herrick ’85 provide jerseys, tires, brakes,shifters, derailleurs and lubricants for the Mountain Biking Team. The teamachieved medals in all races and were prize-winners in every class entered inthe National Off Road Bicycling Association’s sanctioned races showcasingbetween 400 and 1,300 riders.

� The year ends with a collaborative 19-day expedition to Ecuador with St.Stephen’s School. Ten students and faculty attempt to reach the summit ofCayambe, Cotopaxi and Chimborazo. Don Morley suffers a fractured fore-arm and a few students succumb to minor intestinal disorders but the fol-lowing students reach the summit of all three Andean giants: Phil Dunn’98, Jot Jayne ’99 and Liam Millhiser ’99.


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Fall 1997 through Summer ’98� Indian Mountain Adventures, Inc. finishes reconstruction of a new ropes

challenge course consisting of 12 low elements (swing log, spider’s web, thewall, etc.) and 8 high elements. The course will conclude with a ride downthe zip wire to the forest floor.

� Berkshire hosts the first annual RKMP Climbing Competition with studentclimbers from Taft, Ethel Walker and Salisbury competing; Will Feher ’98receives first-place honors after reaching one hand hold higher than theclimber from Taft.

� University of Connecticut women’s basketball team visits on a Saturday inOctober to train in a program using the new ropes course.

� Three faculty members attend the Wilderness Risk Managers Conference onOutdoor Recreation and Education at Snowbird, Utah to increase overallsafety in the RKMP initiatives.

� Frank Barros embarks on a two-week expedition during the summer throughthe beautiful mountains of Denali National Park in Alaska for training inglacier climbing with Alaska Mountain School while RKMP instructor,Heather Forrest, trains in the Himalayas.

� Five more faculty members receive their Wilderness First Aid certificates.

� Ten students and two faculty members build their very own Swamp Yankeesolo canoes by the end of the year. Student members of Fall Watch paddleand portage in the St. Regis canoe area of the Adirondacks; while on cam-pus, students plant bulbs on the south slope below the gym, rebuild log stepsto the ropes course, replace the deck on the bridge leading to Secret Roadand help the Nature Conservancy destroy invading phragmites cane at JugEnd. Cedar Box Awards: “Most Reliable Contributor” Eric Gunderson ’98,and “Best Naturalist” Mika Woyda ’99.

� The first Winter Watch “EcoChallenge” is held. A series of events include ahike to Black Rock, a climb on the wall, a human chariot race and a cookinglesson involving snow and macaroni.

� Jen Dinaburg ’98 and Katri Morley ’98 belay Berkshire trustees through thehigh ropes course; Trustee Emeritus Lee Weil ‘44C completes the circuitwith a fly down the zip wire.

� The seven-member biking team places riders on the winners’ podium inevery event entered. Jot Jayne ’99 competes in expert division and placesfifth at Pedrostock and Zach Urban ’00 posts best time at Pedrostock.

� Jeremy LaCasse ’90 guides the Winter Wilderness Adventure members upthe Bigelow Mountain Range in Maine.

� Fourth-formers spend a weekend at Camp High Rock sponsored by the RKMP.

� Heather Forrest completes First Responder training at Hurricane IslandOutward Bound School.

� Ten students and faculty set out to reach Mount Katahdin’s summit and threeachieve their goal. These three also acted as instructors to newer climbers whenadverse weather conditions prevailed and one student tore the meniscus in hisright knee. They fash-ioned a sled frombackpacks and evacu-ated the injured mem-ber to base camp,where they were ableto create a more “hightech” sled.

Toboggan run, 1923

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� Mountain Biking team receives a donation of a complete set of tools and not onerider withdraws for mechanical failure. The team continues its winning streak;Otto Neumuth ’02 finishes in the top of every one of his beginner class rides.

� The climbing wall gets 150 new holds.

� University of Connecticut’s coach, Skip Holtz, brings the men’s football teamto Berkshire to use the ropes course as part of its pre-season training campprogram.

� Director Don Morley heads to Nepal during March vacation to lay theground work for future RKMP trips which may include: study of the Nepalilanguage, a service project for a school in Fulkharka (Nepali families host ourstudents), travel to the jungle of Chitwan, and rafting the Sun Kosi River.

� Hilary Russell undertakes a birch-bark canoe-building workshop at theWoodenBoat School in Maine and is inspired to instruct future students touse traditional Native American tools and methodology.

� Director Don Morley partakes in the two-week course offered by AlaskaMountaineering School in May improving upon his ice climbing skills andrunning belays; skills that will translate directly to the Winter WildernessAdventure program, specifically for future trips to Mount Katahdin.

� Student participants of the Fall Watch program rebuild the 100-year-oldManganese Mine Bridge under the leadership of Hilary Russell and AlBredenfoerder. Three 30-foot hemlocks are de-barked and squared up withbow saws and chisels to create the 18-foot bridge and railing.

� Twelve climbers brave -10ºF during a four-day winter trek in Killington,Vermont, covering over 20 miles with 50-pound backpacks; the same grouptackles the vertical ice of Pitchoff Mountain in New York a month later.


Ropes course, 1970’s

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� The Winter Wilderness Adventure’s mountain room moves from the basement ofGodman Dorm to the former kitchen in Memorial Hall. Students set up a newcomputer-based inventory system.

� New harnesses for the climbing wall are tested during the October trainingof wall supervisors; climbing ropes and a dozen shoes complete the newlyacquired equipment.

� Don Morley attends the Association for Experiential Education’sInternational Conference in October to increase his “bag of tricks” and,using Berkshire’s Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program as an example, he is a co-presenter of a 3-hour workshop entitled Adventure Internationally.

� While vacationing in Wales, Hilary Russell visits the National CoracleMuseum to learn how coracle boats are built.

� Frank Barros climbs Devil’s Tower in Wyoming to gather tips on teachingaid techniques and safety needs for high-angle rescues and use of gear inemergency situations.

� Don Morley enrolls in a second course offered by Alaska MountaineeringSchool called “Mountain Educators” and increases his knowledge in crevasserescue and safety systems, avalanches, building snow pits and safe shelters.

� Thirty students arrive for tryouts in the rock climbing program implementedby Frank Barros, and twelve are selected to begin the program schedule:They boulder on the “oil field” beneath Black Rock, undertake aerobic exer-cise and weight training, and practice rope climbing on Reservoir Rock inGreat Barrington.

� Mountain Biking starts off on a 16-mile ride and the distance is extended to 48miles with Sean Nealy ’93, a national cycling champion, at the lead. “MostImproved Rider Award” goes to J.P. Herdeg ’02 who joined three weeks into theseason and placed twelfth at the Meadow Muffin Madness race.

� Sam Anderson ’03 builds a jig for a 12-foot type double-paddle canoe with alight frame resembling a kayak. Working together with Hilary Russell theybuild a prototype and members build three more boats in the spring.

� Five members set off for the Adirondacks to tackle several multi-pitch iceclimbs, with the highest being over 300 feet. The same team ascendsKatahdin in February with temperatures dropping to -15ºF. After reachingthe summit they head into the 60-mile-per-hour wind for the descent withan exhilarating shout from Otto Neumuth ’02, “This is awesome!”


Sam Dibbins, standing far left, initiates Project Lifeline, 1970

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� Fall Watch members replace a bridge on the South Pinnacle, do trail mainte-nance, pre-stain the siding to the new Arthur C. Chase Sugar House and stillhave time for canoeing, hiking and rope climbing.

� Hilary Russell attends his third two-week workshop at WoodenBoat Schoolin Maine and will use his newly acquired lofting skills to lay out lines for hisstudents’ boats.

� Jesús Ibáñez undertakes a 16-day wilderness course expeditionwith the National OutdoorLeadership School in theTombstone Mountain Range inthe Yukon territory of Alaska.

� Freed from cumbersome, space-consuming jigs in Chevalier Lodge, students buildthree 14-foot kayaks, one coracle, one solo canoe, one skiff and one umiak.

� Otto Neumuth ’02 is the first Berkshire student to attend AlaskaMountaineering School and to have “breakfast with 60,000 Caribou.” Ottowrites, “Without the Internet, telephones, or television, one could say thatfor 14 days we were out of touch with the world; but I say that I have neverbeen more in touch with the world in my life.”


Left: Art Chase in the original sugar houseAbove: Mike Dalton inside the new Arthur C. Chase Sugar House

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Fall 2001 through Summer ’02Alumnus D. Jeremy LaCasse ’90 returns from a year’sabsence as the new director of the RKMP

� New director’s charge to his staff:

• Coordinate even greater use of the mountain to enhance academic and extracurricular programs;

• Promote safe and responsible use of the mountain to preserve the natural environment;

• Offer each student an opportunity to learn how the bedrock of this campus can be used in harmony with the academic classroom;

• Revive the Black Rock Society to help increase awareness of our impact on the natural environment.

� The Black Rock Society re-establishes its goals to achieve an even more envi-ronmentally friendly school.

� Jesús Ibáñez and Jeremy LaCasse ’90 take fifteen students out on a newweekend survival skills course, an initiation covering everything from spend-ing a night in a dripping pile of leaves to using a bow drill to create a fire.

� Michael Caruso spends 12 days with Alaska Mountaineering School inDenali National Park and reports “Once we knew how to fall, we were readyto climb.” In addition to learning how to cook on a glacier, he dangled 80feet inside a crevasse to test his skills with two axes, built and slept in anigloo and learned all about the formation of the glacier they practiced onand its rate of movement (three feet per year) that was “as deep as MountEverett is tall,” (2,602 feet).

� By the end of the year, a total of twenty-six boats have been built on the eveof the boat building program’s fifth anniversary.

� Rock climbing continues to be a success as twenty-seven climbers sign up forthe twelve coveted spots in the program.

� Fall Watch members construct an outdoor classroom 100 yards behindBerkshire Hall built of white oak benches placed on seven stone piers about16 inches high in the shape of a heptagon.

Jeremy LaCasse ’90 (far right) with Alpine Ski Team.

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� The science department works with RKMP to launch a Web page catalogu-ing the flora and fauna of the campus.

� French and math classes utilize the outdoor classroom behind Berkshire Hallbuilt by Fall Watch members last year.

� The sixth bridge is rebuilt by Fall Watch for the Secret Road.

� Hilary Russell and Al Bredenfoerder take a one-week timber-framing courseat the Heartwood School in Becket, Massachusetts.

� Frank Barros climbs the world-renowned El Capitan peak of YosemitePark—3,300 feet of unremitting granite—on a five-day, big-wall climbstraight up the rock face to the pinnacle.

� Don Morley retires his ice axesand Frank Barros and MikeCaruso take over as Don contin-ues to instruct the Fall RockClimbing Program and theSpring Mountain Biking team.

� Deco Goodman ’04 combines his talent in filmography with his passion forrock climbing; his pictures will be used on the RKMP Web page.

� Eight more Trustees and Advisory Board members join the RKMP staff for awet afternoon on the ropes course.

� Frank Barros leads four members of Winter Wilderness Adventure programto the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire.


Bridge building, 1950’s

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Fall 2003 through Summer ’04Frank Barros becomes the fourth director of the RKMP

� The RKMP Web page is designed and introduced by Frank Barros to remindalumni of their legacy and to invite the greater Berkshire community toappreciate the landscape and inspire more interdisciplinary activity with thenatural resources the mountain offers. It will also serve as a comprehensiveon-line database with a virtual showcase for student work as it applies to themountain.

� The first “Mountain Passport” is created to provide a visual aid to all thenatural resources available on campus.

� Under the guidance of Al Bredenfoerder and Hilary Russell, Fall Watchbegins a two-year project constructing a replica of Henry Thoreau’s 10’x15’cabin at Walden Pond, to be located in the woods behind Berkshire Hall.First phase: build a stone foundation and construct the frame using mortise-and-tendon and pegged techniques that Thoreau employed.

� Bark and Branches, a new Winter Watch program led by Hilary Russell, islaunched. Members roam the woods collecting green limbs of hickory, sugarmaple, hornbeam, black cherry, red osier dogwood, alder, black, yellow andwhite birch, and lengths of grapevine to build rustic furniture consisting oftables, a magazine rack, chairs and original sculptures. Students learn toweave chair seats from shaker tape and during Spring Watch they will beginthe furniture for Thoreau House.

� A first for boat building as three different kinds of skin-on-frame boats arebuilt at the same time: a 12.5 foot long umiak by Matt Crowson ’06, an 11foot low-seat canoe by Abby Watson ’04, and a kayak by Frances Gaston ’06,with help from Megan O’Hara ’06 and Vincent DeAntonio ’04.

Frank Barros ascends Devil’s Tower

Ski jump, 1957

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� The Green Campus Initiative (a curriculumin leadership skills) is launched. All sixth-formers attend a four-day experiential work-shop that introduces them to the ElevenCompetencies of Leadership as well as groupdynamics, feedback and self-awareness tolearn to lead the third, fourth and fifth-for-mers in sound environmental conservationpractices through the establishment of con-servation efforts for every building on cam-pus.

� Kelsy Oberkoetter ’07 and Lauren Ginsberg ’06 are the first females to jointhe Mountain Biking Team. Kelsy finishes second in her age group and bythe end of the season wins first place in all of the interscholastic races andsecond in the non-school races.

� Lisa Báez participates in an intensive American Canoe Association WhitewaterInstructor Certification course at Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center in Salida,Colorado, in preparation for the RKMP’s new Kayak Program.

� Science teacher Mike Dalton joins in on the work at Thoreau House asmembers strive to complete it by the summer of 2005. Flooring, loft, ceil-ing and room boards are laid and trimming is completed for the interior andexterior. The students set posts around the chimney, nail on lathing andplaster the interior walls with two gray coats and one finish coat of a limeand water mixture. Three chairs, a bed (caned by students), a table and adesk are completed. Local artisans lend a hand in aspects of masonry andfurniture building so that the cabin is complete with three chairs: “one for

solitude, two for friendship, three for society.”

� At the end of the year the student-led recycling program collects 4,850pounds of electronics, 77 pounds of printer cartridges, 380 pounds of uni-versal waste (mostly batteries), and 450 pounds of recycled clothing that willbe sent to families affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

� Eight students travel through Peru to learn about its culture and societies. InLima they ride and hike to the outlying primitive village of Shipasbamba and


Thoreau crew: Mike Dalton (left), Allan Bredenfoerdercenter and left of Hilary Russell.

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Fall 2005 through Summer ’06� The National Wildlife Federation grants Berkshire School Campus Ecology

Recognition for its waste management efforts through the Green CampusInitiative, making Berkshire the first secondary school in the country to earnthis honor.

� The goals of the Green Campus Initiative expand to include more energyand water conservation strategies; more on-site education efforts in the class-room, development of a forest management plan in the academic program,diligent work with the physical plant to purchase products that are environ-mentally sound and, lastly, advocacy for LEED certified buildings.

� A pilot Kayaking Program is launched by Lisa Báez and Jesús Ibáñez.Classified as competitive, ten students will learn the fundamentals of pad-dling, with an emphasis on safety and technique. Exploration of area lakes,ponds and class-1 rivers and larger coastal kayaking or whitewater raftingweekends are planned.

� Lindsay Clarke partakes in the Alaska Mountaineering School workshop inDenali National Park. Some of the survival skills she learns include how tomake a tent platform, digging a kitchen in the snow, and how to care forpersonal belongings in anticipation of sudden storms.

� Hilary Russell retires but continues to hold lectures for Fall Watch on the lit-erary history, construction timeline and contemporary relevance of theThoreau House.

� English study RKMP initiatives for the fifth form include TranscendentalNight (a symposium in Berkshire Hall) and Transcendental Overnight (aguided sleep-over in Thoreau House).

� A new “trick park” is created by the softball field to work on mountain bik-ing skills.

� Chris Brunn ’07 accepts the challenge of anovernight outing in Thoreau House as thetemperature falls to 20°F and he finds him-self “going outside the margins,” to appreci-ate the serenity and tranquility of nature.

� Five students reach Mount Katahdin’s sum-mit and return in time to see the SuperBowl!

� Science Chair Anita Loose-Brown reports that “students are ‘doing’ science,not just learning about it in classes such as environmental science, biology,geology and conceptual physical science: They measure insect populationswith Berlese Funnels, collect plants and animals, study sink holes, and cata-logue red-backed salamander populations.”

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� Current Staff: Frank Barros, Director of RKMP and science teacher; Lisa Báez,English teacher; Mike Dalton, science teacher; *Kate Garbutt, mathematicsteacher; Richard Giles, mathematics teacher; Jesús Ibáñez, Spanish teacher; JohnMoodey, English teacher; and *Daniel Yaverbaum, science teacher.

� The Black Rock Association will now be called the RKMP ConservationCommittee. Faculty gathers information for Berkshire’s first Green House GasInventory to make more informed decisions on conservation issues whileeleven students lead dorm recycling efforts, energy conservation efforts (elec-trical meters are spliced into every dorm for data tracking) and createbiodiesel fuel from the kitchen’s wasted vegetable oil to use in maintenancevehicles with diesel engines.

� All dorms participate in a school-wide competition in order to determinewhich dorm does the best job at recycling and conserving energy throughthe initiatives set by the Conservation Committee.

� The ropes course usage is at an all time high as JV teams schedule a turn tostrengthen team dynamics.

� Frank Barros leads four students: Sierra LaBonte ’10, Joe Cohen ’08, GeorgeHaydock ’09, Lars Nelson ’09, and alumnus Josh Brande ’07 on a five-day climbto the top of Mount Kilimanjaro—one of “The Seven Summits” of the worldthat rises 19,341 feet above the dry plains of Tanzania, Africa. The successfulclimbers then entered the second phase of the expedition, a safari into theSeregenti Plain and the Ngorongoro Crater.

*New faculty who joined at the beginning of the 2007 fall semester.


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Additional historical information on the RKMP can be found on theSchool’s Web site (www.berkshireschool.org) by clicking on the “Celebrating

a Century” button on the home page, and selecting the 1990’s in the“Berkshire School through the Decades” section. Current news regarding

the RKMP can be found by clicking on the program’s button on the homepage or by subscribing to RSS feeds in the RKMP News section.

245 North Undermountain Road, Sheffield, MA 01257

Phone: 413-229-1003 Fax: 413-229-1016 www.berkshireschool.org

Documents

RKMP A Trek Back