Windsock

An E-Term at.... Home?

As departure time approached, a week in D.C. sounded nice, but that e-term service trip wasn’t in my cards; I had been dealt a fated hand that was for the better.  Early Sunday morning I realized staying home was what I would be doing for e-term.  My mom had been up all night with extreme abdominal pain and quickly made her way to the hospital. Timing has never been my family’s strong point, and that morning proved no different. 

The Washington D.C. E-Term

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in April, 13 EMHS students and 3 faculty members loaded up two vans and began their journey to Washington, D.C. Their E-Term week was spent serving the various needy inhabitants of the city through the Center for Student Missions. “[The Washington, D.C. E-Term] really opened our eyes and made us truly willing to help others without hesitation,” said freshman Sarah Boshart.

Poetic Puerto Rico

Our E-Term

Plantains

Utopia

El Morro de San Felipe, historic fort in Old San         Juan

Rumpelstiltskin, Touring Choir mascot

Tainos, aboriginal Puerto Ricans

Ocean

 

English Field Trip to D.C.

The following is a responsive essay about the 10th grade field trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., written by Jack Cline.- ed.

Driven by my desire to learn more about the Holocaust, I sprang out of bed at 4:00 in the morning to start preparing for the long day ahead of me. After a quick workout, shower, and breakfast, I bubbled with excitement as I headed to school to board the bus. Once on the bus, I enjoyed bonding with classmates and learning many trivial, but interesting things about who they are while munching on granola bars and sipping cool water. After the three-hour drive, we arrived in Washington, D.C., and were greeted by the beautiful and intricate architectural designs of the historic city, rich with grainy bricks and stones. Finally, we reached our destination: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Students Attend YLEAD

This past weekend representatives from four Mennonite high schools came together at Goshen College for the biannual YLEAD convention. This event gives youth the opportunity to discuss and experience the characteristics of leadership as applied to high school students today. This year the theme was "Making Peace with Leadership."

The Seniors Take Their Trip

Last Wednesday, 48 Seniors rolled out of the EMHS parking lot in a charter bus named Richard, destined for the nation’s capital. In spite of the early departure, the bus trembled with excitement as the class of 2011 anticipated their time in Washington D.C. The events of the following three days proved to be valuable bonding experience for the Senior class.

With growling stomachs, the group piled onto the bus on Wednesday evening after observing a Supreme Court case and touring the National Cathedral and National Zoo. They were destined for a street lined with ethnic eateries ranging from Italian pizzerias with gigantic slabs of pizza to Ethiopian cuisine served upon round pieces of injera. The brave souls of the bunch ventured out into a whole new realm of ethnic eating, while the more conservative ones opted for a hamburger from Mickey D’s.

The Annual "Ches Bay" Trip

The consistent rumble of the bus’s engine was all that kept me from falling sound asleep. We had left school early that morning, the sun barely raised above the white clouds. We had arrived at school much before the first bell sounded sending students scurrying towards their first period classes.  My mind and body, I realized were  not yet fully ready to be awake or alert at this time, as I sat on the bus listening to my music.  Cars passed us constantly, and I silently willed the bus to go even a little faster. Our bus driver and Environmental Science Teacher Mr. Good, would slowly reach his hand down every once and awhile for the extra-large bag of trail mix stationed at his feet. We were slowly headed toward a weekend of fun and learning at the Chesapeake Bay.

Discovery takes on Trinidad

For years, EMHS students have come to know the Mr. Myron Blosser’s Discovery trip as the biennial, month long trek across the United States made by students over their summer break. EMHS’s 2010 E-Term has changed that old definition, however, by offering a week-long Discovery trip in the country of Trinidad and Tobago. For the first time, Mr. Blosser’s Discovery Learning curriculum was applied outside the United States; and with much success.

The idea for the trip began a couple of years ago when Mr. Blosser and his family were visiting old friends in Trinidad. In conversation with Wade Seukeran, an old friend and practicing veterinarian, Mr. Blosser discovered they shared many ideas about education outside the classroom and the importance of environmental awareness. As a result, Mr. Blosser invited Wade and his son, Levi, along on EMHS’s Discovery 2009 trip. Wade accepted and, after experiencing a Discovery trip in the United States, proposed that another be offered in Trinidad. “I thought it’d be great, but I never thought it would actually happen,” said Mr. Blosser. “You know, the great dreams that never come true.” Upon his return to school this year, Mr. Blosser proposed the idea of a Trinidad E-Term to Mr. Steve Yoder, and was pleasantly surprised by Mr. Yoder’s approval. “When it got greenlighted, I emailed Wade right away,” Mr. Blosser recalled. “We began making plans.”

By nature, Discovery trips are highly intensive and require extensive planing to arrange housing, contacts, and transportation. When asked how he could plan such a trip from a different country, Mr. Blosser said that most of the planning for the trip was done by Wade Seukeran. “You know I have contacts all over the United States, and that’s how I plan my Discovery trips.  Well that’s how Wade is in Trinidad, he knows people everywhere,” explained Mr. Blosser. By allowing a former Discovery participant to plan a trip, Mr. Blosser was able to see how Discovery students would perceive a Discovery trip.  After experiencing Wade’s Discovery trip, Blosser admired the fact that it perfectly replicated his own idea of experiential learning.

In comparison to the longer Discovery trip over the summer, the Trinidad trip kept much the same methodology. And while both trips had a large focus on learning about environmental issues, the Trinidad experience introduced the study of religion into the usual Discovery topics. “Trinidad is one of the most diverse places on the planet,” Mr. Blosser explained, “ and because it is so diverse, it is also one of the most tolerant countries.”

Due to Trinidad’s great diversity, Discovery participants were able to visit a Hindu temple, a Benedictine monastery, a Muslim mosque, as well as a Mennonite church. Trinidad participants also spent time with the people of each religion, as well as those one opposing ends of the economic spectrum.

“[Trinidad] was a growing experience for all involved, it expanded  my knowledge of world religions allowing me to see their similarities and differences,” said Steven Smith, a Senior member of the Trinidad Discovery trip. After the trip, Mr. Blosser announced that he “has full confidence that any Discovery student will have a better understanding of diversity and a larger worldview” which is a pretty admirable accomplishment for a small, private school in the Shenandoah Valley.

-- Andrew Hostetter

Choir Travels to MSC

One distinct characteristic of Mennonites is their ability to sing in beautiful four-part harmony. This talent was put to good use last weekend at the Mennonite Schools Council’s music festival. The Eastern Mennonite High School Touring Choir participated in the three-day event, which included choirs from 16 different Mennonite schools from across the United States and Canada. All 550 students came together in Kitchener, Ontario at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate. These students participated in one mass choir, and practices for that group took up the majority of the weekend’s time, although there were plentiful snack breaks and times for mingling.

The festival’s theme, “I Can Tell the World,” was taken from the title of one of the mass choir’s pieces. The concert included seven songs by the mass choir, one song performed by each of the individual choirs, and the famous hymn 606. It took place in the Centre in the Square, a building known for its wonderful acoustics. The concert on Sunday night was a great success. Tickets were sold out, and the spacious performing hall was full to capacity. Rhianna Cockrell, a junior, was a participant in this event. She spoke highly of the bus ride, the friends, and the festival overall, but she said, “The music created by such a large group of passionate, talented musicians topped anything else I could have experienced at that festival.”

This year marked the 48th anniversary of the MSC annual concerts. During those numerous years, the festival has grown to an overwhelming size, causing it to divide into two separate festivals every other year. Next year in 2011, one half of the festival, including EMHS’s choir, will meet at Academia Menonita in San Juan, Puerto Rico, while the other will meet at a school on the West coast. The juniors in EMHS’s current Touring Choir are anxiously anticipating their next opportunity to be a part of this exceptional event.

- Melissa Jantzi

Service, Solitude, Simplicity

Headwaters Lodge is located about one hour from Harrisonburg in Highland County, Virginia. The road to reach the lodge is filled with twists and turns as it crosses over the mountains. The Lodge sits seemingly in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nature just off the main highway on a gravel lane.  This was the setting from the Service, Solitude, and Simplicity e-term lead by Mr. Curt Stutzman. “This course is designed to increase our strength!” read the description on the e-term package given to students in December. “Our goals will be to succeed at both service and other forms of discipline, including experiences of solitude and silence, all in an incredible environment!” 

Their goals were met.

The group, made up mainly of freshmen and sophomores, spent the week working to prepare the campground at Headwater's Lodge for its busy summer season.  They cleared dead wood from the campground and chipped it into mulch to “regroom” the trails on the ropes course.  The majority of service time was spent on this project and other odd jobs around the camp. 

Beth Miller, the mother of EMS seventh grader Andrew Miller, and Mr. Stutzman's wife, Jeanne, went along to the Lodge for the first part of the week. They worked in the kitchen serving meals and doing clean up to give the regular camp cook a break. Beth observed, “[They were a] great group of kids [with a] great attitude towards working.” She pointed out that all the work at the Lodge is accomplished on a volunteer basis. Having the EMS e-term there to help was a wonderful contribution. 

Each day the group experienced times of silence and solitude. One night they laid out under the stars in silence except for the sound of Scripture periodically being read aloud. Freshman Michaela Mast said that that event was probably the highlight of her experience. She states that it was different there; there wasn't the “light pollution” that exists in areas of the Valley. The group went on an early morning hike in hopes of catching a glimpse of the sunrise. Mast lamented the fact that when they reached the observation point, it was too foggy to see well. Three hours were spent one day in solitude in the woods. Participants only took a journal and their Bible with them – in the middle of nature they listened for God. Michaela describes the week as being “a really, really neat experience.” 

Over the time spent at Headwaters the group listened to numerous speakers. Mr. Stutzman, Ronny Breen, pastor of Horizon Christian Fellowship, a church closely connected with the camp, as well as counselors working at the camp shared with the e-term participants throughout the week. Mast felt that as the week concluded she had really grown in her relationship with Christ.  She gained a lot through the speakers' messages as well as through the silence. 

Would she recommend this e-term to others, or participate again herself?

“Absolutely.”

- Malinda Bender