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10 | on the mountain winter/spring 2012
SKS
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News
A
sk any alum what they
remember most about
their time here at Storm King,
and the beauty of the Moun-
tain is sure to be one of the
first things they mention. For
the past 145 years, the School
has sought to capitalize on
its natural surroundings by
offering various classes and
programs that bring students
closer to nature.
Although the formalized
Outdoor Education classes
had fallen by the wayside in
recent years, the program
returned this Fall with the
arrival of Taras Ferencevych
on campus.
Taras brings with him a
love for the outdoors that
stretches back generations.
His family was heavily
The Great
Outdoors
involved with the Boy Scouts
in Ukraine before World
War II. Taras’ father took his
family camping and hiking
as often as possible. As Taras
told us, “Every summer we
were outdoors pretty much
all the time!” Soon Taras was
working at summer camps,
but the idea that connect-
ing kids to the wonders of
nature could be a career never
occurred to him. He went to
college to study law, but his
heart wasn’t in it… it was still
in the outdoors. It was then
that he discovered the Colo-
rado Mountain College, and
met people who had built a
career out of doing what he
loved.
After graduating from
CMC, he went on to earn a
Masters in Outdoor Educa-
tion from the University of
New Hampshire and is cur-
rently working on his PhD.
In addition to teaching his-
tory and economics classes at
Storm King, he’s responsible
for bringing the Outdoor
Education program back for
the current generation of SKS
students to enjoy.
“We’re just getting
restarted,” Taras said. “Walks
in the woods, sometimes with
a little bit of incline, so they
know it’s not a scary place
and they know what’s in their
own backyard. We’ve gotten
the compasses out once in
a while, but many of these
students have little to no
experience outdoors. On the
other hand, we have students
who have been to the base
camp at Mt. Everest and the
North Pole! At first I thought
“How am I going to wow these
kids”
but now I’ve realized
that I don’t need to “wow”
them. I just have to take
them out into nature for a
little while. We’ve been doing
activities where they have to
be by themselves, they can’t
talk to each other, so that
they can experience nature
unplugged. No cell phones,
no headphones. We’ll hike
down to the waterfall and see
how long they can sit still.”
This year, Outdoor Educa-
tion is an afternoon activ-
ity that counts as a sport.
Approximately 15 students
meet every day for short
hikes and activities, with
longer trips on Wednesdays
Rock climbing in the
Shawangunk Mountains.
One of the hikes taken by the students of the Outdoor Education class brings them to the top of Anthony’s
Nose, which overlooks the Bear Mountain Bridge.
and weekends. Some of the
more popular hikes include
Anthony’s Nose (which
overlooks the Bear Mountain
Bridge) and Popolopen Torne.
Just off of Popolopen Creek,
Popolopen Torne features a
cairn at the top built by the
The Outdoor Education Group is
slowly acquiring needed gear.