Friday, August 21, 2009

A Tribute to TREK


Some say that a teacher's summer is like a weekend: June is our Friday, July is our Saturday, and August is our Sunday. Up here in Vermont, we often don't get out of school until the third week of June, so I usually run out of the school building after entering all of my grades and revel in my freedom. Realistically, I'm usually so busy trying to get all the things on my "to do" list done during those first few weeks off, that I never really get to relax and actually have a hard time slowing down. But by July, I dust the books off my bedside table that I've started and never had time to actually finish, I actually have days with no agenda, and I finally relax. Just about the time that August rolls around, everyone starts asking me, "so, when do you have to go back to school?". I usually don't actually know the exact date that I have to go back. Probably, because I'd rather not start counting down the days that I have left.

August could be particularly dreaded for me because John gets incredibly busy in August. While I'm trying to enjoy the last month of freedom, he ends up working long hours and many weekends in order to gear up for UVM's Outdoor Orientation for incoming students (aka TREK).

Tomorrow, over 250 students head out on 25 different six day wilderness trips (canoeing, backpacking, climbing, or biking). Fifty-five upperclassmen have spent the last week training for the event and John organizes it all. While it might be easy to resent TREK and all the students that take my husband away from Cally and me for so much of August, my sentiments are exactly the opposite. These students are all so fantastic.

Cally and I have visited John and the crew for a few of the training dinner events this week and the more time I spent with them all, the more I realize how lucky John is to do what he does. He is surrounded by so many motivated, fun, gracious, and outgoing students. They all make such a stink about Cally-- at any given time, one of them is smiling at her, holding her, or telling us that they are more than willing to babysit anytime (even some of the guys!). Now that I'm a parent, I look at students like this and I wonder what it takes to raise a kid who will turn out so self-assured, confident, friendly, thoughtful, and appreciative. I can only hope that Cally turns out to be so together and fun when she's in college.

Below is a picture of Cally on John's back at a recent BBQ with all the leaders:


Throughout the summer, three particular students have been working for John to help everything run more smoothly. John Ringer, Catherine, and Cory make up the "lojo" team (short for logistics) and they've been spending A LOT of time with John. Subsequently, they've gotten to spend some quality time with Cally. Above was a picture of Catherine and John Ringer with Lobster and Cal during a working lunch a few weeks ago. They make it so John has been able to sneak away from planning and leave some of the details of organizing to them. Because of them, he can get home every once in a while to give Cally a bath or put her to bed.

Thank you TREK leaders, and particularly, the Lo Jo crew. You guys give so much to help incoming students, but you also make our family richer.