Teenagers Face Seven Days in Mountain Wilderness

ABOVE: Getting hitched up to hitch across. Tony Moore prepares for the rope course BELOW: Emily on her birthday in the Colorado mountains.

They camped at 10,000 feet, where the air was so thin breathing could be difficult. They dug trenches in the earth for their bathrooms. They braved rain, and wet clothing, and temperatures that fell to 30 degrees at night.

The students, from the Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD), were on a Deaf Leadership Expedition into the Rocky Mountains. They hiked, climbed rock faces, cooked, and camped. For seven days, they pitted their bodies, hearts, and minds against the wilderness.

"Seeing the van drive away was so hard," said Emily Schultz, an ISD student. When her group walked off with forty pounds in packs on their backs, she refused to join them. Instead she sat quietly on a rock--while mosquitoes, happy for the stationery target, feasted. Getting up, Emily followed after her classmates. All of the students were relieved and happy when she joined them in camp.

ABOVE: A student and a skyline BELOW: Off go the ISD students for their seven days in the wilderness

The end of the trip was a solo experience, in which each student was left alone in the woods for 24 hours. The students were told to use this opportunity to think about their experience, what leadership meant to them, and how they could apply their experience in the mountains to their lives at ISD. Then each teenager was left to spend the night alone in the mountains.

"When I was alone that night I imagined myself talking to my grandmother who died the week before," student Tony Moore said. "She told me to be strong and to live a full life.

"I watched that moon and never let go of it," continued Tony. "I felt as if my grandmother were holding me all night."

"The whole group, in tears, watched Tony's growth and leadership development," said ISD teacher and group leader Tim Burdsall. "He shared a most deep and courageous testimony of what it means to grow to manhood."

After they finished their solo experience, Emily had a birthday-and all of the students celebrated, signing "Happy Birthday."

When they returned to ISD, they were triumphant, coming back leaders.

Onward and upward! Kourtney Clew prepares for the ascent.

At the summit