When Daniel Zebrowski, 17, of Chester County learned about an opportunity through his private high school to get educated beyond its walls through a three-and-a-half-month outdoor adventure experience, he jumped on it.
“Originally I signed up to go on the adventure of a lifetime, but once logistics shifted, my approach turned to one of an intention of self-growth,” said Zebrowski, the second-oldest of five children. “I wanted to learn as much as I possibly could about myself, and I wanted to see what kind of changes I would see in myself after three and a half months in the wilderness.”
Immersion experience
Hosted by Kroka, a nonprofit wilderness school based in New Hampshire, the immersion experience offers a limited number of students from across the globe, ages 16-21, the opportunity to engage in accredited semester experiences.
Once Zebrowski went through the application process and was accepted into the program, he was given a list as to what he needed to do to prepare for the trip, including preparing food and training physically to enable him to acclimate to the daily physical demands, which included wearing a 70-pound backpack that contained everything he needed for the duration of the trip.
Zebrowski, a junior at Kimberton Waldorf School in Chester County, participated in Kroka’s fall program in Arizona and Utah for for their “Roaring Canyons Experience,” where he participated in backpacking, tent camping, whitewater paddling, rock climbing and more.
“I was in Utah for the expeditions and then spent three weeks in Arizona,” he said. “We camped each night there, and we spent most of our time on the move on expedition, and a few days were what we called layover days, where we would stay in one spot for a few days.”
44-hour solo
On one of the layover periods, each student did a 44-hour solo.
“We spent our time alone with no tent — just a journal and water — fasting the whole way through,” he said. “The fast was optional, but most of us chose to do it.”
They took on many challenges and did a wide range of activities on their daily expeditions.
“We canoed, hiked, crossed rivers, rappelled down canyons, made our way through slot canyons, swam in rivers and went rock climbing at Cochise Stronghold in Arizona,” he said. “We also hiked the Grand Canyon, rim to rim.”
Opportunities for learning
But beyond the physical challenges, there were many opportunities for learning. Zebrowski appreciated not having traditional daily homework, but valuted that they were still learning in the process of the excursion — just in a different way.
“Not having homework showed me what learning really is,” he said. “It allowed me to be completely present in the moment to take in the lessons and experiences.”
Since he didn’t have to worry about getting an assignment done by a certain date, he said that allowed him to truly live into what he was doing each day.
“Almost all the learning I did was different than what you would expect in a typical classroom,” he said. “I say this not simply because the material was different, but because of the way we learned.”
For example, they did a three-week study of the Mexican-American border crisis.
“It’s one thing to be in a classroom and look at pictures and discuss complicated topics such as this, and a whole other story to be there,” Zebrowski said. “It’s an entirely different thing to stand by that massive wall and look through it, seeing the houses and streets. To be there in the place of the thing you’re learning about — you see it, to breathe in the smells, to taste the air, provides you with a much deeper sense of the topic.”
Flash floods
When they learned about how flash floods create canyons, they stood in those canyons.
“We touched the rough sandstone walls, carved by thousands of years of water flowing there,” he said.
They learned practical skills for survival in the wilderness, such as how to read maps, plot coordinates, keep a constant sense of their cardinal directions and how to cook over fires, preparing meals such as a lentil and cheese dish over rice.
“We also learned the history of the places we were in, and how to process and handle our emotions,” he said, adding that he learned to live in a community, and how to be there for one another.
Zebrowski said he made lifelong friends through sharing the experience with his semester mates.
“All of this showed me that learning isn’t solely about numbers and facts, but that it is about a never-ending search for knowledge — a learning to live,” he said.
Zebrowski described a typical day when they would set up camp.
“The assigned cooks would begin to make dinner, and when camp was set up, we would journal about our day, write personal reflections and answer the prompt the instructors gave us,” he said. “When dinner was ready we would eat, then finish up our journaling and do dishes, then have what we called evening meeting.”
Evening meeting
During their evening meeting they would read a group-assigned book, give appreciation to their peers, bring up concerns they had, have a class the instructors would lead, talk about the day and discuss the next day’s plans before going to bed around 8:30 p.m.
“We would be in charge of telling the group where we go and we would have to make sure everything was done right or someone could get hurt, and many other responsibilities,” Zebrowski said. “Through this knowing that we were capable of leading and taking care of ourselves, I found a confidence in me I hadn’t had before.”
He said he became more self-reliant because of the program.
“I gained a sense of being capable of taking care of myself and others,” he said. “The responsibilities we held with decision-making, prep and even being given the chance to do the risky things we did were just a few of the many things that contributed to a very strong sense of self reliance.”
Rappel down canyons
Cooking over fires, navigating with maps and compasses, paddling whitewater and learning to rappel down canyons were all things he said he may never have learned how to do had he not particpated in the program.
“I was excited to go see the world, and that was my way to do just that,” he said. “It gained for me new perspectives on so many aspects of life.”
Daniel’s parents, Ania and Dominik, were supportive of his interest in the program and what he gained from it.
“What impressed me most about the Kroka program is its strong focus on learning through experience, teamwork and building independence in a supportive nature environment,” Ania said. “I felt that this practical approach was ideal for Daniel and helped him develop more self confidence, responsibility and self awareness. Daniel returned more self assured, resilient and proud of what he had accomplished.”
Daniel said he feels this is an experience that can make a student stand out to colleges.
“After spending three and a half months on an adventure like this, your character begins to stand out a bit in a good way,” he said. “The ways you think, your philosophies and all the experiences you have under your belt at such a young age, I believe, make you stand out to colleges as a mature young person, and they see it.”
About Kroka Wilderness School
Kroka Expeditions is an accredited semester program for high school, gap year and college students ages 16 to 21.
For more information, visit www.kroka.org.
