Friendship, joy, and courage through the woods

~Will Kugeler, Class of 2025  

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal:
it is the courage to continue that counts.” 

— Winston S. Churchill

It was the day before the trip to Windsor Mountain, and I was wondering what I should expect. Would I keep my friends? Would I love it as much as D.C? Will I be able to sleep? After the three days up at camp, I feared I might not make new friends, but I was wrong. I was afraid it was not going to be as good as D.C but I was wrong. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to sleep but I was wrong.  After this I went back and thought about it and I realized that I was filled with joy the whole time, I made a bunch of new friends and I conquered my fears. 

 Cooper, Jimmy and I went canoeing on the lake. We were racing to the island against the other canoes. Paddling saying “ left right left right”. We made it to the island in 2nd place. Beckett and Vinny were in the dust. We got to the island and played manhunt. Vinny and Beckett were seekers. Me and Eli hiding behind the rock, Cooper and Ryan running through the wild, William and Jimmy hiding behind the fern. Vinny and Beckett coming towards us, we panicking trying to jump over the rocks… They tag us. They’re running towards Jimmy and William not knowing they’re coming. Beckett and Vinny sneak up and tag them. Now it’s just Cooper and Ryan. Vinny and Beckett knew where they were, but Cooper and Ryan had shoes. They tired them out for a bit until they struck. We were at the abandoned shack ready to get tagged in, while Cooper makes a wild run and tags everyone back in. Unfortunately Beckett got injured on that sequence so we started playing infection tag.  William was tagged first after getting sneaked up on. And before you know it Sergio goes 2 MORE MINUTES. William and Vinny start running around, me Copper, Eli, and Ryan quietly walking through the back of the trees and all of a sudden we here rustling and see Vinny running towards us and we hear “ 10, 9, 8, 7, 6” Vinny is right behind us “5,4,3” he tries to tag Ryan but just misses “2,1. Everybody head back to the boats”. On our way back we were tired, Me, Jimmy and Cooper not having the same energy as before. We start mumbling songs under our breath, and then we start singing louder and louder. 

“ALMOST HEAVEN, WEST VIRGINIA, BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS, SHENANDOAH RIVER.” It was so fun singing then we got into our next song “ ROCK ME MOMMA LIKE A WAGON WHEEL,ROCK ME MOMMA ANYDAY YOU FEEL AYYYYYYYY MOMMA ROCK ME “mommy rock me” ROCK ME MOMMA LIKE THE WIND AND THE RAIN, ROCK ME MOMMA LIKE A SOUTHBOUND TRAIN AYYYYYYYYYY MOMMA ROCK ME.” Until we docked.

I went paddle boarding with Buggy and Rex, paddling through the dangerous waters of black pond trying to admire the beautiful scenery of widoko island. Canoers trying to knock us off our boats, buggy falls first. Me and Rex paddling as fast as we can to get out of there as fast as we can. Finally we catch a break, they go back to fishing.  We were having the time of our life swishing our feet through the water while talking. We start swaying our body side to side making waves causing us to fall off. Out of the corner of my eye I see Curtis standing on a sailboat, he just fell down capsized  the boat while everyone around us was in a gasp. We wanted to make sure he was alright, but while we were paddling over me and Rex slipped and fell. By the time he got up we were still pretty far away so we just kept on paddling. Once we got tired we sat down and just looked at the beautiful views that Windsor had to offer. Once we heard the blow we new it was time to go back. We were racing, Rex in first, me in second and Buggy in last. We were probably twenty feet away, I was only a paddleboard length from Rex… then he fell. Falling into the water him losing his chances at winning. Me being victorious. I’m just so thankful that Fenn gave m ethics opportunity to make these friendships and bond with my classmates.

Winston Churchill was right “Success is not final, failure is not fatal:, it is the courage to continue that counts.”  Dangling 30 feet in the air with just a harness to keep me from falling. Eli as my partner trying to attempt to climb the dangerous Jacob’s Ladder. The hardest part, getting on, it was 5 feet in the air and we had to jump on. At first it was easy for Eli him going  first then me. We had conducted a rhythm that was staying through until probably the 3rd one. I’m only 5’3 while Eli is 5’5 and way more athletic, so it was way easier for him. I had developed a technique called the koala where I would jump up and latch my legs to it, then pull my legs under and over and pull up. By the fifth one it was taller than me. I was so tired but I had Maggie and Harry cheering me on as long as my whole advisory and Eli were right next to me for support.

It was the last one, I thought I couldn’t do it anymore. I gave it one last go, but I didn’t get it. Then Eli wiped it off and it became easier to grip and I did the technique I pulled up and I did it. It felt so accomplished. It was hard but it made me feel great inside. I was so nervous while up there before that moment I didn’t know I was scared of heights. The rush of adrenaline felt so good running through my body that it kept me going. The courage that I built up amazed me.