06/10/2026
A Ripple Beyond the Shore
This summer marked a milestone for Onward & Upward: the inaugural launch of its flatwater canoe program during week two of Adventure Academy at Burchell.
Canoe week began with listening. Students created sound maps, explored the anatomy of the ear, and examined the space between what is said and what is understood. They discovered that listening is more than hearing; it is attention, awareness, interpretation, and connection.
Those lessons carried onto the water. Through paddle signals, whistle commands, observation, and teamwork, communication became a skill to practice. Students rotated between bow and stern positions, learning that a canoe moves best when effort is shared and communication is clear.
On the water, participants practiced forward strokes, sweeps, draws, and pries. With each new skill, uncertainty gave way to confidence, like ripples spreading across the surface of a lake.
The learning continued during debriefs. Through clapping patterns and discussions about rhythms found in nature and everyday life, students discovered that effective paddling, like many aspects of life, depends on finding a rhythm with others.
On the final day, each student picked up a stone left behind by a glacier tens of thousands of years ago before launching on an adventure starting across Cottonwood Lake. After paddling through a narrow culvert, the group paused to hear a reading from Sigurd Olson's reflections on "the great silence."
Then they listened.
Birds calling from the shoreline. Wind moving through the trees. Water against the canoe. In the quiet, students experienced the sounds that emerge when the human voice fades and the natural world takes center stage.
That awareness became action. Using their paddles, students collected trash caught in mud, snags, and along the shoreline. They also explored the aquatic ecosystem in their backyard, discussing how human choices affect waterways and the communities that depend on them.
The simple stone carried throughout the journey became the focus of the final debrief. Students dropped their stones into the water and watched the ripples spread.
The image became a metaphor for the week itself. Small actions matter. Listening matters. Caring for a place matters. Like the ripples from a stone dropped into water, our actions often travel farther than we can see. Two weeks of Adventure Academy came into sharp focus.
Students arrived expecting to learn how to paddle a canoe. They left with new skills, deeper awareness, stronger relationships, and a greater connection to one another and the natural world.
Long after the paddles are stored and the gear is cleaned, the ripples from these experiences continue to travel far beyond the shore.
