The Experience

As I walk through life, I’ve chosen an alternative path, one without conformity and constraint. I spent much of high school dreading the day I went to college, unaware of the other academic options I had yet to discover. Graduation came and went and unsatisfied with the idea of continuing traditional schooling under covid constraints, I sought out a more unconventional academic program. My passion for nature and social sciences led me to explore The Walden Project, NY as a gap year opportunity. While on my tour of the school, lead teacher Andy Webster told me all the aspects of the program and I immediately realized it was a perfect fit for me.

A core philosophy at The Walden Project is Head, Hands, and Heart Learning, the belief that students learn best with a combination of reflection, active engagement, and emotional connection. This approach completely changed the way I view education, showing me how much deeper and life-changing learning can be. 

Every Morning, after starting a fire and preparing lunch together we sat in a circle and read a thought provoking text, usually from the book Walden, but sometimes from other sources such as Braiding Sweet grass, or Water. We then went on to discuss our thoughts and feelings on the passage, each person sharing their own opinions and experiences. This gave me a greater understanding of others differing morals and values and how their past experiences lead them to those beliefs. These conversations allowed for an open, close community despite our differences. 

Within our close knit group I made meaningful relationships with a new set of peers. Bonding over our passion for nature and free thinking, I quickly became friends with most of the other students. Our shared love for the same woods formed a unique bond, and the people I connected with this school year are people whose impact will stay with me through my entire journey. 

My relationships with my teachers proved to create the most intimate and effective learning model I have ever experienced. Understanding each individual student’s life story, values, needs, personality, learning style, and sense of humor dictated how they led their discussions, workshops, and activities. The teachers – Andy Webster and Janean Shedd – proved to deeply care about their school and the environment they created. I truly believe they are a pebble in the pond of education, their impact on students rippling outwards, creating positive change in this world. 

The Walden Project placed a large focus on awareness of social, political, environmental, and economic issues. We regularly had long, thoughtful conversations about the current state of our world and the changes we want to make. I’ve never felt so passionate about improving the culture and environment we live in and have never thought so deeply about what I can do to bring about that change. I’m excited to put this learning into action as I progress through my academic career. 

Each Friday students spent the day at a service learning placement of their choice. I chose to volunteer at a homeless shelter in the city of Rochester in the fall, an established non-profit community of folk artists in the winter, and an organic seed farm in the spring. Along with these weekly volunteer days, my teacher Janean took me with her on a week-long service trip to Appalachia where we did roofing work for a family in need. My minimal volunteer experience in high school had little to no impact on me, as most of the events I worked centered around middle class white community members. The service learning I did through The Walden Project showed me how fulfilling and important it is to help where you are truly needed, and how good it feels to really make an impact in your community. 

This school year, the woods became my second home. Spending hours a day with the same trees, plants, fungi and animals, I began to feel integrated into the ecosystem around me. Every day I learned something new about the same forest I had been to so many times before. From the slugs that make your tongue numb and the millipedes that smell like almonds, to the jewelweed that alleviates a rash and the birch bark used to freshen breath, everyday was filled with new discoveries about the natural world around me. I’ve always had a passion for learning about nature, but to be fully immersed is the most rewarding way to go about it. 

As my time at The Walden Project comes to an end, I’ve come to realize the most valuable thing it’s given me has been my newfound sense of physical and mental self-sufficiency. I learned how to rely on myself in survival situations, now knowing how to build fires and shelters, and find food. I learned how to be more self-sufficient in our modern day society, with the ability to grow and cook my own food, advocate for myself and others, and build strong relationships. Most importantly I learned how to be confident in my own personhood and abilities and I will carry that skill with me for the rest of my life. 

What follows is the text of Iris’s speech at the end-of-year Walden Symposium, where students share what they have learned over the course of the year and what they’re taking away from the experience.

I’m going to ask you to picture a scene. 

If you’ve been up at Walden, pull it from your memory, and if you haven’t, just imagine a bunch of weird kids hanging around a campfire carving misshapen spoons and discussing philosophy. (And crocheting. Can’t forget the crocheting.)

There’s a variety of seats, wooden benches, a ski lift, a chair I was told Andy foraged from the dump, and a few others. And there’s a variety of people occupying those seats, most of whom are currently in the audience. 

One of the myriad of things I love about Walden is all the different people. There’s so much diversity in opinion, and everyone is provided with the space to voice their own. And considering two of the most heated debates we’ve had were about Harry Potter and pockets, I’d say most of us are open-minded and willing to listen to someone who might have differing political beliefs. 

Though I have more to say about all aspects of Walden than can fit into a 10 minute speech, I’m going to stick with saying this:

I came into this year looking for a way out. And what I got was a way in. 

Walden has been unlike any experience I’ve ever had, and most likely any experience I will ever have. Quarantine forced me to think about education differently. It was sort of a wake-up call, and a time where I threw myself into activism to try and dig up some meaning for my life. Which begs the generic question “Who am I?”. It’s a question I was asked over and over again while working on my symposium presentation. And the answer is still “I don’t know.” Perhaps I will never know. But what I do know is that because of Walden’s curriculum and its community, I’ve changed a lot. I will reiterate that there is so much more than what I will talk about, and because I am talking about certain things does not mean that they are more significant than others.

So, in public school you’ve got your friends, and then you’ve got the people that you avoid at all costs. In Walden, there’s a community. 

A community doesn’t come without conflict, of course, which we’ve had our fair share of, but conflict helps you understand relationships and connections. Relationships come a lot faster when you’re a group of people united by a common interest. And that means conflict comes faster, too. 

Working through that made our relationships stronger, and Walden became a second family for some, and a first family for others.

Sharing those experiences, even if you’re not particularly close with another person, creates a bond that virtually nothing can erase. 

Though the hours upon hours of service learning I did were a mere drop in the bucket of the world, I have been taught in this very place that drops cause ripples. 

It’s in the Walden logo right here. 

That’s what service learning feels like to me. It was strange at first, to be in an environment where volunteer work is such a big part of ourselves and our year. But it’s really normal now. 

I’ve formed connections with people that I wouldn’t have if not for Walden’s service learning program. I’ve been to an herb farm, an animal farm, and the Naples Library, all three of which I will continue to do service for. And because Andy told me to brag about my service, I will just let you all know that I started an anti-racism book group at the Library outside of Walden service, and I hopefully will continue to facilitate this series of discussions we’re having. This is also sort of an advertisement, so if you’re interested in joining, talk to someone at the library. 

Community service is looked at as something you do when you’re in trouble, like cleaning up trash or something. But what I don’t think people understand is that you can do something you love—for free—and if you volunteer at the right place, you’ll impact people’s lives. That’s my perspective on it, after doing service one day a week for a year. And it’s all oriented towards our own definitions of service, and what service means to us. If you’re lost, your teachers will help you find your place. Which brings me to my next point: authority. 

When we’re talking about leaders and educators, you almost always think of public school teachers, principals, and professors, people like that. Authorities. People who students are asked to respect. But more often than not, they aren’t willing to respect their own students. The definition of respect is a little blurry, especially when by ‘respect’ your teacher means, “If you don’t treat me like an authority, I won’t treat you like a person.”

Our teachers are the opposite. When you say the phrase ‘ruling with a firm but gentle fist,’ that’s exactly what they do. It’s so important to have those types of people in education, especially people who are educating kids. Because when was the last time each student in a classroom had a personal connection with their teacher? It doesn’t happen very often, does it? And yet here Andy and Janean are, doing exactly that. They lead us and guide us, but they laugh with us and treat us like equals. And they help us find ourselves.

One of our essential questions is ‘What is my relationship to the natural world’ It’s an expected and inevitable part of this speech, and I’ll do my best to address it. I grew up and am still growing up surrounded by the woods, so I’ve always had a strong connection to nature. And during quarantine I would lose myself in the woods. They became so familiar that when I started Walden, I felt like I had always been there. Walden really helped me put that connection into words. And every day I spent at Walden, I became just a little more comfortable with the natural world around me. Especially during the winter, when it was hard to be at school, I learned how to appreciate the good days and make peace with the bad days. Being a student at a school without walls is quite literally freeing. The woods hold space for your thoughts. There is room for everyone and anyone. 

Now, I’d just like to address one more thing before I end this. 

I know a few people who have had speculations about Walden, specifically, speculations on the status Thoreau has at our school. They say, Iris, that school of yours, it fits all the qualifications to be defined as a cult. I’ll admit it comes off a bit odd at first, because it’s based around a person and his ideology. But the truth is, many of us are part of an unofficial Thoreau hater club. One of the things I learned while reading Walden is how to hold historical figures (and people of a celebrity status in general) accountable. So we analyze Thoreau’s philosophy, his words and his traits, and make sure we put him under the microscope as a real person whose legacy continues to affect people today, not some god. So, to shut down any sort of rumors, no, Walden is not a cult. 

I would really like to thank everyone at Walden for making it such an accepting and freeing space. Not just for me, for every single person here. 

And I’ll end with a line Andy says on a daily basis:

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.