Canoes & Camping: Connecticut River/Northeast Kingdom IEP Trip
Cathy Zhang ’26 and Maia Wijnberg ’26
Brookie Olson ’26
The best way to pass time when canoeing 12-18 miles per day? Wordle— but without signal… and without phones. This past June, three Loomis students, including Brookie Olson ‘26, took on a 10 day trek down the Connecticut River, beginning from Vermont’s border with Canada all the way to the Long Island Sound. Part of the Alvord Center’s annual International Education Program, the CT River/Northeast Kingdom Trip ran in collaboration with both Deerfield and Northfield Mount Hermon, with 12 students in total across the three schools.
Centered around the theme of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies & Outdoor Education, this trip not only provided students with firsthand experience in the outdoors through canoeing down the river, but also propelled them to engage significantly and ethically with their environment and its conservation. According to Brookie, the group spoke with an indigenous woman of the Abenaki tribe who informed them of the connection between the river and Abenaki culture and history. The group learned of a new viewpoint of the river as a living being, a vital part of the ecosystem, and community that needed to be carefully preserved and untouched.
Later on, however, the group then met with the CT River Conservancy, who discussed the Wilder Dam and its implications. The dam provides a cheaper, cleaner, and more efficient energy source for the local community as opposed to burning fossil fuels or other non-renewables. Nevertheless, Wilder Dam changes the natural character of the river, giving it a more lake-like appearance, and increases water temperatures, making it less habitable for coldwater fish like trout (Hanover Conservancy, n.d.).
Besides the diverse environmental opportunities, one extremely memorable part of the trip for Brookie was the interscholastic connections she built throughout the 10 days, whether that was chatting on the water, cooking meals, or playing card games around the fire. She even notes that she recently supported one of the trip’s Deerfield students at her soccer game held at Loomis. Overall, she truly enjoyed her experience and said she would go on a similar one again. In addition, Brookie felt a deep connection to this trip– her father was a river guide in Idaho, and she grew up going on week-long river trips on local rivers, which was very fun and formative for her love for the environment and being outdoors in general.
The trip pushed students to challenge themselves, personally reflecting on opposing perspectives and concepts, and their ability to coexist. It also provided a space to form close friendships with peers internal and external to Loomis. Brookie also mentions that there can be stigma around rivers like the CT River, for example, being viewed as disgusting, and one of our school’s goals moving forward is for the Loomis community to effectively and meaningfully interact and engage with the rivers that are such a prominent part of our campus.
References:
Wilder Dam. Hanover Conservancy. (n.d.).
