Productive Parallels; Experiential Education and Academics
Kyle Soukup - TMS Senior
Personal Vignette
As my 7th-grade year approached, I recognized that Telluride Public School wasn't working out. I realized that I was distracted by the social element of school and required a focused environment where my teachers could help me leverage and identify my strengths. I toured schools all over and luckily, the Telluride Mountain School appeared to suit me best. Looking back on the past four years of my high school career, I feel remarkably proud of my progression in grades but also how I developed a coordinated and productive work ethic. Two years ago, the Telluride Mountain School adopted the International Baccalaureate diploma program. Being a student who excels in the outdoors, and has been recognized for numerous outdoor leadership acts, it's become apparent that academics don't come naturally for me. At Mountain School, there aren't any easy classes or ways to pad my schedule. As soon as I signed the IB course registration sheet, I knew it was going to be the most challenging yet productive decision of my life. As a result, my academic grip on school became much stronger as I developed my own work ethic and became extremely organized. Reflecting on my junior and senior year of school, I have found that this progression has ultimately defined the academic theme of “self-driven challenge”. In an attempt to portray this theme and why it’s personally recognized, I chose to analyze or in other words decrypt my most memorable Mountain School experiential education trips/moments that best represent the parallel between reflection and academic success.
Vietnam
The most meaningful academic experience that I have had was with Telluride Mountain School in Vietnam at the Vietnam War Remnants Museum. I found myself on the “Agent Orange ''floor of the museum reading about the harsh cell death and mutation that occured in humans and all living cells when the U.S dropped hundreds of thousands of pounds of the chemical on Vietnamise gorilla territory. After seeing disturbing images of victims and reading about the deadly effects of the chemical, I found myself standing in front of two mutated fetuses that had been preserved for the museum. I feel somehow, indirectly guilty about the horrible events that happened during that time. I kept the image of the fetuses in my head for some time, and after that image started to fade, I wrote about the emotions and takeaways from this experience. Today, I still reflect and read this entry to remain grateful for the everyday things we all take for granted.
Cambodia
Last year in Cambodia at Angkor Wat it started raining really hard forcing all the hundreds of tourists to hide inside the temple from the rain. Hamo Will and I saw this as an opportunity to explore the exterior of the temple without seeing another human. The specific memory I have pictured is; We were in a lush field, not a human in site, and it was the heaviest warmest rain I have ever been in. We ran over to the main gutter that pored over the temple wall like bear creek and sat under it. I felt overwhelmed with happiness while being drenched in warm cambodian rain at Angkor Wat with two of my best friends. How does this represent Mountain School? This memory is Mountain School. Whenever i’m on a trip with mountain school I always have at least one moment where I feel a completely unique and specific emotion that when looked back on ties to the loving community of the mountain school. This memory also says alot about who I am and specifically what moments will trigger that emotion.
Journal Entry:
Today we visited “The Killing Fields”. Although the name is self-explanatory, this monumental plot of land in the middle of Cambodia is the one and only place where I have deeply reflected on my life. Although it's really hard to imagine what this site looked, smelled, and sounded like during its use, I could picture it almost perfectly. This specific killing field is located right in the middle of rural Phnom Penh, the most populated city in Cambodia. Because the operation was “secret” and surrounded by innocent Cambodian communities, the soldiers under the rule of Khmer Rouge had to play loud inconspicuous music to cover up the groans and yells of the prisoners being murdered. Around 20,000 people were identified to be murdered at this site and it wasn't much larger than the Mountain School playground. When we first arrived at the sight I knew what to expect… graves, bones, and tourists, but as soon as I laid my eyes on the 60 - 80-foot monument full of human skulls, I felt shocked and scared. Around 20,000 human skulls, stacked on top of each other, each with a different colored mark signifying how the person was murdered. This was the first time I have been seriously disturbed.
