Ritt and MeBy Joe Cohen ’08

Joe Cohen ’08, a four-

year student from

Darien, Connecticut,

wrote a college essay,

inspired by Ritt Kellogg.

It is reprinted here as it

appeared in the

Summer/Fall 2007 issue

of the Berkshire Bulletin.

As I climb higher and higher on theslopes of Mt. Everett, the sweat starts tobead on my forehead and I wish my hairwas a whole lot shorter and my pack muchlighter—it never feels the same when it’sjust dead weight. I push on, knowing that ifI can’t motivate myself to get up this 3,000foot hill then I’ll never make it up MountKilimanjaro. I only have two more weeksbefore I leave for the trip. I start to think, asI do when I hike, on a time in my life whenI would have just given up.

The difference now is that I have a driv-ing force behind me, and, despite neverhaving known him, Ritt Kellogg is myspiritual guide. Ritt died when I was onlytwo years old. But his legacy of leading byexample and loving the outdoors lives onat Berkshire School through the RKMP.Like me, he enjoyed frolicking in thewoods behind Berkshire School and shar-ing his love for Mt. Everett with others.

As a kid I tried the traditional sports forenjoyment, but football and basketballnever seemed to fit. I always had a passionfor the outdoors, but never had the oppor-tunity to exercise that passion until I wasintroduced to Berkshire School. Searchingfor something more than the sprawl and

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Last June marked the fifteenth anniversary of the death of Ritt Kellogg ’85 on the easternslope of Mt. Foraker in Alaska, seven years after he graduated from Berkshire. The Ritt KelloggMountain Program has since become a vital part of Berkshire life. This Centennial edition of theRKMP newsletter is dedicated in his memory. — Frank Barros, Director of RKMP and science teacher

Wilderness FitBy Colby Coombs Executive Director, Alaska Mountaineering School

Colby Coombs met Ritt during his first year at Colorado College in 1986. Their friendship grew out of

a common interest in “anything new to do outdoors”. Weekends often found the roommates improving

their technical climbing skills if Ritt wasn’t sailing or skiing. “Ritt was “an incredible athlete with tree-

trunks for legs, a low-maintenance best friend who loved the independence and solitude of a great climb.”

It has been over fifteen years now, and a day does not go by when I don’t think of whatRitt Kellogg would be doing. I know what he would be like—eternal dry humor andtelling me not to sweat the small stuff. He would still be pulling pranks, too. Ritt diedthree years after graduation—no one was ready for that. We were twenty-five, trained-up, and knew time spent in wilderness was time well spent. Decisions made on a highalpine rock face were real, with immediate consequences, and we were on the hunt forrealness. Climbing wasn’t everything: there were skiing, sailing, and girls, I guess. All weknew was that if we could get to Alaska once a year, that was progress.

Berkshire’s Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program is a great tribute to a young man who sawthe importance of the back country in one’s life. Wilderness fit. Ritt sought unconven-tional challenges that required problem solving and physical fitness. He knew themountains provided a classroom and an arena to test oneself and that the judges werehonest. He loved fresh air and a good view. He would have wished the RKMP was inplace when he was a student, but Ritt never looked back or dwelled for long. At the startof every trip he would always say, “Whatever we forgot, we might as well forget itbecause it is forgotten.” Except you, Ritt.

continued on page 4

WINTER 2008 NEWSLETTER

Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program

Ritt Kellogg on Kahitna glacier in Alaska, 1990

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I stepped off the plane into an unfamiliarplace, a different world. It was hot, and Icould already feel myself begin to sweat.Then it hit me; my dream trip had begun. I had just completed my first year of highschool, and boys and homework were farfrom my mind.

I was extremely tired but couldn’t sleepon the car ride to our hotel. I gazed out thewindow, not able to make out every object,but imagining the outline and grasping theidea that this place was nothing like home.The next day we would start our climb ofthe highest mountain in Africa—the greatpeak of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Kilimanjaro rises 5,895 meters (19,341 ft.)out of the dry plains of Tanzania.Mysterious and foreboding, it is called oneof “The Seven Summits” of the world. As ifthis weren’t enough, while this mountain isconsidered to be an extinct volcano, the topof the mountain has been drasticallychanged by global warming, losing almost80% of its glacial ice cap’s volume. For a fif-teen-year-old girl from a small town inMassachusetts, it was overwhelming.

On the first day I was full of energy andeagerness, doing my best to show no sign ofweakness, just making sure I kept up withthe group. After all, I was the youngest andthe only girl on the trip of four boys (JoeCohen ’08, George Haydock ’09, LarsNelson ’09, and alumnus Josh Brande ’07)and our instructor, Mr. Barros. By the endof the first day I was confident that I coulddo it easily, no problem. However, the dayssoon became a blur due to altitude sick-ness—headaches and vomiting—andannoyance with my fellow trekkers. Butthen came “summit day”—nothing couldhave prepared me for that!

Our tour guides, Emmanuel and Wilfred,said they would wake us up at 11:00 p.m.,and though it was impossible to sleep beingso excited, we did fall asleep to find tea andwashing bowls outside our tents. After wehad our “breakfast,” we put on our wintergear and headlamps and began the ascentinto the darkness. Our guides kept repeat-ing “pole” meaning “slow” in Swahili, so wewould not tire ourselves out before the realhike began. We walked up sand and dirt forwhat seemed like forever. Every time wetook a break my eyes would begin to shutand it felt like my brain was pounding inmy skull. We continued on and on, until

the terrain changed to rock and ice. Thegroup had split up at this point and I wasno longer trying to stay in front, but ratherwilling myself to just keep moving. Iwalked alongside my friend Lars, and withevery rest stop we told each other that wecould do it and that it would all be worth itin the end. Each difficult step felt heavierthan the last and then, suddenly, the lightup ahead appeared closer instead of furtherout of reach. At long last we saw the moun-tain flattening in front of our eyes.Victorious, we had achieved what we hadset out to accomplish. Lars and I took thelast steps to the summit where George, Joe,Josh and Mr. Barros, all looking fullyburned out, welcomed us with pride. Westood there for a while, contemplating ournext move, but in the end we decided tobegin our climb down, maybe even gettingback in time to have a nap.

Our decent of the summit was somethingunreal. We passed the snow and rock ontowhat is called scree, a term given to brokenrock that appears at the bottom of moun-tain crags or cliffs. We could see the sunbeginning to come up over one of theneighboring peaks and sat down together toadmire the sunrise; we took pictures so themoment would be with us forever. We“skied” down the rest of the peak, some-times pausing for an occasional vomit, butthen returning to our pleasant feeling ofaccomplishment. That very day, after wegot back to our campsite, we hung aroundfor awhile, and then began our way downthe rest of the mountain. This was where itfinally kicked in; we all began to realizewhat we had attained. We passed people

from Ireland, England and Australia ontheir way up the mountain. They all askedus the same thing: “Did you guys make it tothe top?” We smiled and answered affirma-tively, taking joy in seeing the looks ofamazement in their faces.

After making our final descent and sign-ing our certificates (proof of our feat), wesaid goodbye to the guides who had helpedus every step of the way. Our hike wasdone, but another adventure was about tostart: The group was to go on a safari intothe Serengeti Plain (5,678 square miles) andthe Ngorongoro Crater. Words cannotdescribe the amazing things we witnessed.Standing in our roofless jeep, we saw con-fused zebras, lazy, mating lions, timidgiraffes, sleepy hedgehogs, goofy but terrify-ing hippos and majestically beautiful leop-ards and cheetahs. Each night we wouldstop at lodges, nestled on the Plain, thatseemed to appear out of nowhere. Onenight, as we drove in the dark along theroad, we saw a big rock clump far ahead ofus which seemed to get larger and larger aswe got closer. We thought we saw lights butwe couldn’t be sure. As we came upon it werealized the “rock clump” was a group ofboulders that was surrounded by tents.Sleeping there that night can only bedescribed as something out of a book—something surreal you read about happen-ing to other people, but never you. Fromthe first day of enthusiastically walkingthrough farmland and forests to the last dayof pain and tiring, trudging steps, this tripnever disappointed me.

In June 2008, I will be taking yet anothertrip into a different world. This time it willnot be the plains and high altitudes of Africa,but it will be just as physically and mentallychallenging to complete. The RKMP issponsoring a trip to Peru. This expeditionwill be all about mountain biking throughthe Andes and visiting Machu Pichu. As mymom put it, “You’ve got the bug.”

I am sixteen now, with everything aheadof me, and I intend to take every opportu-nity in life. Yes, getting positive reactionsfrom everyone when they exclaim “YOUCLIMBED KILIMANJARO!” is great recog-nition but, in the end, I am in it for theexperience, for the memories and for theend of my years when I can look back andconfidently say, “I have no regrets.”

Taking Every Opportunity By Sierra “Da Da” LaBonte ’10

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Climbers from left, Josh Brande ’07,

Joe Cohen ’08, George Haydock ’09,

Sierra LaBonte ’10 and Lara Nelson ’08

– 4 –

conformity of my suburban town, I wasimmediately drawn to the School’s setting atthe foot of Mt. Everett. I first heard Ritt’sname uttered on my tour in a brief mentionof the RKMP, but when I arrived as a stu-dent I realized that Ritt himself would meanmuch more to me than just the name of aprogram. I quickly found that Ritt,although no longer alive, was someone withwhom I could relate. I read In the Zone byColby Coombs, the lone survivor of theavalanche that killed Ritt; I surfed the Webfor any information I could find; and Iasked the older teachers for anecdotes of histime at Berkshire. Even so, I felt I only hada limited sense of who he was. It was themountain behind the School and my con-nection to it that really gave me insight intoRitt Kellogg.

As I participated more and more in theRKMP it gave back to me equally. WinterMountaineering and Backcountry Skillstaught me teamwork, leadership, and basicsurvival and outdoor skills. I became moreconfident, outgoing, and sure of my place ineveryday life. Just as the mountain mighthave changed Ritt twenty years before, it wasdoing the same to me. What meant evenmore to me than the outdoor instructionwas the time I spent alone on the mountain:hiking, swimming at Guilder Pond, climbingat the Oil Fields, or reflecting as I enjoyedthe views from Black Rock, South Pinnacle,or Mt. Everett’s glorious summit. I was ableto center myself in a way that I never hadbeen able to before, and this ability to thinkabout what was on my mind without thedistractions of everyday life helped memature by leaps and bounds.

I know Ritt would understand it. Likeme, he was able to find what he was lookingfor in the outdoors. On the mountain hematured into someone described to me bythose who knew him during his time atBerkshire as “confident, someone who had alove for the environment (he did an inde-pendent study on Acid Rain and I did oneon Emissions Trading) quiet, someone wholed by example, modest, laid-back, deter-mined, someone who didn’t just live life —he devoured it. For him, life was a spectac-ular journey, never a destination.” There isa picture of him in the Mountain Roomwhere we store all of our gear and meet forpractice and underneath the picture is anexcerpt from an essay Ritt once wrote:

“In conquering a problem…clear your

mind, get determined, carry through. When

you are sixty or so feet in the air, your problem

of getting to the top of the cliff becomes much

larger in your head. You begin to panic, clench

the rock and waste all of your energy in pan-

icking. If you stop and take a long, deep breath

and realize actually what you are faced with

you may start to climb slowly, one step at a

time, eventually reaching the top.” _________________________________

(Ritt Kellogg, Outward Bound - A Personal Essay)

The natural environment obviouslychallenged Ritt, and it challenges me inthe same way.

As my love of the outdoors increases, RittKellogg continues to direct me. I realizethat if I enjoy the natural world so much,then I should devote my life to it. So I havefully immersed myself in this new directionin which I am successful and happy. Now,my motto is W.W.R.K.D.: What Would RittKellogg Do?

Now, almost all of my time—from rockclimbing and mountain biking, to makingmaple syrup to participating in theConservation Committee to spendingsummers in Alaska and Ecuador—isdevoted to the outdoors. I even devote mysummers to teaching kids how to kayakand mountain bike at a camp in Maine.But it’s more than that. I’m teaching themabout character and how to love the out-doors. Thankfully, I am in a place whereopportunities exist and I can take advan-tage of them.

I now know something that many peo-ple my age do not: I know what I want todo with my life. Thanks, Ritt.

Ritt and Mecontinued from page 1

Learning Wilderness First AidBy Michelle Helderman ’08

In December 2007, the RKMP sponsoreda sixteen hour Wilderness First Aid certifica-tion course offered by Stonehearth OpenLearning Opportunities (SOLO). Thecourse allowed the RKMP staff and all stu-dents in Berkshire’s Winter MountaineeringProgram to become more aware of the risksthat are involved with mountaineeringactivities. We discussed possible situationsthat could occur while in the mountains,then tested what we had just learned by par-ticipating in hands-on activities.

We learned the Patient AssessmentSystem, a series of routine questions andprocedures that must be carried outwhen conducting a rescue. We weretaught how to treat soft tissue injuriesand cold weather injuries, how to splintfractured bones, and how to recognizethe symptoms of shock and what to do ifa mountaineer succumbs.

The most enjoyable part of the coursewas hearing stories about the past experi-ences of our instructor, Robert Wiley (for-mer history teacher at Berkshire), whichreiterated to us how important wildernessfirst aid really is. The situations hedescribed were often horrific, but, becauseof his quick and careful actions, he hasbeen able to save many lives. By the end ofthe course, everyone was much moreaware and prepared for the dangers ofmountaineering.

This February, Winter MountaineeringProgram participants are hiking up MountWashington in New Hampshire, andcamping out for two nights. Just knowingthat we are ready for any situation thatcould occur is a very reassuring feeling andwill make all our mountaineering experi-ences much safer.

Michelle Helderman ’08 and LukeJohnson ’11 practicing a mock rescuesession with “vicitim” Joe Cohen ’08

Ritt Kellogg ’85

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Let’s go green! By Melissa Fogarty ’08

Berkshire School is participating in the Green Cup Challenge dur-ing the 2007-08 academic year. The Green Cup Challenge (GCC)competition began at Philips Exeter Academy in 2003 as a campus-wide competition to conserve electricity and evolved into an inter-school challenge by 2006. The school with the greatest electricityreduction wins the competition. The GCC lasts a full month, butactivities are incorporated before and during the competition tospread and maintain awareness of energy conservation. The goal ofthe GCC is to educate students about conserving energy, thus reduc-ing the impact our campus has on the environment and globalwarming. In order to participate in the competition, every boardingschool has to register, attend the GCC conference at Philips ExeterAcademy, create a student-made video, and have a way of recordingelectrical consumption.

There were many GCC-related events and activities at Berkshirethat were sponsored by the RKMP and backed by the administra-tion to meet the registration requirements. The following eventsand activities began in mid-November and continued through themonth of February:

CFL Bulb Replacement – November 12 through 17500 incandescent bulbs were replaced with compact

florescent lamp bulbs.

Partnership with Clean Air Cool Planet – November 30Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP) is a science-based, non-

profit organization dedicated to finding and promotingsolutions to global warming by partnering with compa-nies, campuses, communities and science centersthroughout the Northeast.

Third-Form Experience – January 16Groups of third-formers checked every building on

campus, counted the number of computers, and madecalculations of energy use and what could be done toreduce consumption.

Green Cup Challenge Presentation – January 23Melissa Fogarty ’08 and Danny Licker ’08 introduced the

GCC at an all school meeting and Tucker Walsh ’08 and ClayCohen ’08 presented their video (which was later submittedto the competition). Then Joe Cohen ’08 took the lecternand explained his independent study on emissions tradingbetween dorms. Briefly, the emissions trading scheme is away of introducing flexibility into a system where dormitorieshave to meet emissions targets and those successful dormswill realize the dollar savings in their budgets. The emissionstrading scheme will continue for years to come, eventuallyincluding heat and transportation use to help determineemissions targets. The system will be regulated by theRKMP’s Conservation Committee.

Focus the Nation – January 30 and 31There was a showing of the movie 2% Solution and the

following day teachers conducted classes involving envi-ronmental issues and topics.

Month of February:Lightless Lunches & Candlelit Dinners

Environmental Sustainability SongsEach day, everyone in the school received an e-mail con-

taining lyrics that had to do with energy conservation andthe corresponding songs were played by the radio station.

To sustain the GCC, Berkshire will use the emissionstrading scheme after the competition is over as a motiva-tion to continue to conserve energy on campus. TheGCC will benefit the Berkshire community because a full50% of our electricity comes from the burning of naturalgas at the Ocean State Power Plant in Rhode Island. Byusing less electricity we are reducing our dependency onnatural gas, leading to less carbon dioxide emissions andultimately decreasing our carbon footprint. It is our hopethat through these efforts the GCC will better inform thecommunity of the dangers of global warming, thus givingstudents, faculty and staff an opportunity to reduce theirimpact and be more cautious in regards to energy conser-vation both at Berkshire and at home.

Green Cup Challenge leaders Dan Licker ’08and Melissa Fogarty ’08

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Mountains Talk andPeople ListenBy Dan Yaverbaum, Science Teacher,Director of the Dixon Observatory

Strictly speaking, “fourteener” is no morea noun than “party” is a verb. For thosewho groove on scrambling, belaying orrepelling along the purple mountainmajesties of the continental U.S., however,“fourteener” is a very real word. The termrefers to any mountain whose peak exceedsan altitude of fourteen thousand feet—almost three miles—above sea level. Withinthe Colorado borders there are fifty-three.

I spent the summers of 1994 through2000 living in the Estes Park Campgroundand co-leading “Colorado AlpineAdventures”—off-season arm of the out-doors club for an independent day school inNew Orleans. We would return from a day’sventure, pack pop-tart breakfasts and sand-wich lunches in the same brown bag,arrange our day-packs and prepare to wakeup at increasingly early hours—culminatingat 2:30 am. Rising to Coleman-stove instantcoffees, we’d then hit the trail and approachthe peak of the day. Each successive ascentwas chosen so as to increase our confidenceand skill until we were ready for the club’ssignature fourteener: Longs Peak. Ourfavored non-technical route up Longs wasnot uniquely difficult, but it taught me howmuch personality a seemingly inanimateobject could have. We could be moon-lightmarching up the trail by 3:15 am, make italmost to the top of the famed “Trough”before the inevitable mid-day storms, sensethe summit less than a thousand vertical feetaway, but still have to concede defeat to, forexample, excessive ice on the “Narrows”. Orwe could take a different route on a differentyear, and spend half the morning climb seri-ously believing we were on the moon.

In February of 2007, I interviewed atBerkshire School. Summoning deep andprecise powers of acute observation, Inoticed that it sat under a mountain. I wasaesthetically and symbolically moved. If amountain can have a personality, I calculat-ed, then surely a school under a mountainwill be preposterously alive: Will it singwhile it breathes? Gesticulate while itspeaks? Snore and dream while it sleeps? Iwanted to explore immediately. The air

was cold and I was just in Sheffield for theday. Naturally, therefore, instead of lacingup my boots, I booted up my web-browserand learned of the Ritt Kellogg MountainProgram. I began to grow moved in amore practical way. I moved, in fact, toSheffield—thrilled to be invited by a palpa-bly passionate administration and faculty.During the summer of that move, I wasinformed that my autumn coachingresponsibility would involve the“Backcountry Skills” sub-group of theRKMP. Bring it!

‘Twas brought. True: It had been sevenyears since mountains and woods hadplayed a significant role in my life. Truealso: I had spent most of those seven yearsliving in Brooklyn, New York—a grayershade of green than that found in RockyMountain National Park. True finally: Whathad gotten me up all those glorious cragsand crevasses had evidently been someblessed blend of stamina, will and reckless-ness (a blend called youth), but not so muchskill. This last truth I had not reallyprocessed until I had the honor and delightto meet Michael Dalton (Head Coach) andMount Everett itself (“The Mountain”).

Mike’s detailed knowledge and love of thescene was infectious. Being a part of hiscrew, I came to recognize one distinctionbetween a walk and a hike: A hike, evenwhen gentle, is a class. To those who couldnot wait to graduate from school, it maysound as though I have just insulted hikes.On the contrary: I love class. And I amquite certain that even to the most cynicalanti-student, the experience of Mr. Dalton’sclass feels as exhilarating as, say, a nice hike.Out there on The Elbow Trail with the

Backcountry Skills group, there were noquizzes, no reading assignments, no bells.But everything meant something and wouldbe on tomorrow’s test. The test could be assimple as “How do we get back to the ElbowTrail?” or it could be as intimidating as“How are we going to build an adequateshelter from nothing but trees and twine?”Our head coach was a Sherlock Holmeswith no crimes—just puzzles and plants—upon which to muse.

I feel quite fortunate to be back in a placewhere mountains talk and people listen.Here, the medium for communicationappears to be the RKMP. Tons of peopleofficially participate, but it often makes lit-tle difference who is or is not on the roster.The RKMP matters. And it rocks.

Far Away From MyComfort ZoneBy Kate Garbutt, Math Teacher

My experience in the outdoors beganwhen I started attending an all-girls sleepovercamp in Ontario. After thirteen years ofcanoe trips, windsurfing, archery, swimmingand all of the other activities that make sum-mer camp so much fun, I left my summersin Ontario for a summer in Alaska.

As a student at the University of BritishColumbia I participated in the NationalOutdoor Leadership School for a semester inAlaska. The summer comprised a fifty-two-day hiking and mountaineering traverse ofthe Wrangell Mountains followed by twenty-one days sea kayaking in Prince WilliamSound. The semester brought me far awayfrom my comfort zone and allowed me tolearn things I may never have otherwise hadthe opportunity to learn.

New Faculty

Dan Yaverbaum and son Jesse

Kate Garbutt

continued on next page

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While studying at UBC I was active in theoutdoors club. I enjoyed many rock climb-ing and mountaineering trips in the PacificNorthwest area. I also spent my junior andsenior winters working as a part-time skipatroller on Whistler Mountain. The winterafter I graduated I moved to Whistler toenjoy the mountain full time.

I have spent three summers as a whitewa-ter raft guide; guiding for one summer onthe Ocoee River in Tennessee and for twosummers on the Penobscot River in Maine.Last March I had the great privilege to jointhirteen of my colleagues from those sum-mer excursions for a twenty-five-day privatetrip down the Colorado River. The GrandCanyon was one of the most amazing placesI have traveled and the trip was life chang-ing. We enjoyed Class X waters and gor-geous hikes on a daily basis.

When I began my search for a teachingposition, I had in mind an academically rig-orous school that also embraced the out-doors. Berkshire has suited the bill verywell, and I am excited to be a part of theRKMP this year as a faculty member in rockclimbing and winter mountaineering.

Emissions TradingBy Joe Cohen ’08

Through my independent study inEmissions Trading, Berkshire School hasput into place an emissions tradingscheme between dorms to help reduceour CO2 emissions and educate the stu-dent body. An emissions trading schemeis a way of introducing flexibility into asystem where participants have to meetemissions targets. It is used to controlpollution by providing economic incen-tives for achieving reductions in the emis-sions of pollutants.

In our circumstance, each dorm has abudget and a set amount of kg of CO2 thatthey can emit in a month. If a dorm goesover their amount then they buy CO2credits from other dorms that have a sur-plus. This rewards the dorms who con-serve CO2 with extra money that they usefor dorm events, etc. If a dorm is able tostay under their standards then a percent-age of their budgets are released for spend-ing as well. Trading auctions occur at theend of each month. Although there is anauction every month, money is released

only at the end of every season to prevent adorm from spending all of their funds.The conservation representative from eachdorm is in charge of this money and uses italong with the supervision of dorm par-ents. This project was funded thanks tothe RKMP and other endowments.

At first the basis for the measurementsof carbon emission was based solely onelectricity for which the meters werealready installed and standards set thanksto an electricity conservation competitionlast year. In the future, we will includestandards for oil usage and transporta-tion. Data is being collected this year sothat there is an accurate standard forcomparison. While this project is cur-rently being undertaken and led by meand Frank Barros, it will be continued infuture years by the science department’sconservation studies elective. This is thefirst year that this project is being imple-mented, but we expect to use 32777.65kWh less of electricity from January toMay. This will decrease our kg of CO2 by14094 and save $1,550.34.

This project is primarily a way to edu-cate and involve the entire school on

energy usage and, of course, reduce ouremissions. What is so unique about theinitiatives at Berkshire is that many arerun and facilitated by students asopposed to physical plant personnel.Many systems such as this that try todecrease energy consumption over a peri-od of time or attempt to educate a com-munity are either on too small of a scaleor can get monotonous over time and thestudents lose interest. The cap and tradesystem is always changing and gives eachdorm an opportunity to succeed or failevery step of the way. This keeps thecompetitive spirit and excitement goingmonth after month. With the addition oftransportation and oil/heat consumptionfigures this system has the potential to bethe main authority of students and teach-ers energy usage. Another possible futureplan is to expand this program to have anemissions trading scheme between otherindependent boarding schools. Thisproject is another example of BerkshireSchool’s continual commitment to envi-ronmental sustainability.

We wish to thank all the donors to the RKMP endowment on behal f of the students who have

bene fited and those who will bene fit by participatingin the RKMP, due to your generosity .

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I had never been very interested inphysical activity or team athletics. I wasthe kid who was always picked last andnever asked to play soccer at recess. Iwas not open to trying any other sportbecause I thought I knew what wouldhappen—more of the same. However,what I could do was climb, and I identi-fied myself as a climber.

When I came to Berkshire, I could nolonger climb competitively, so I had tochoose a new sport: crew. But I was notvery good at that, either. In my nextyear I signed up for rock climbing withthe RKMP and for the first time I used aweight room. I started to like the feelingof being in shape. I became hooked.Everyone started to notice a majorchange in my personality—a new-foundoptimism. The fall came and went and Icontinued to use the gym six days a

week even after an interesting wintermountaineering experience.

I then decided to try mountain biking.I was in the best shape of my life fromall the lifting and working out that I wasdoing so I was able to pick up bikingfairly easily, even though my previousexperience was just a few outings withmy mother when I was a child.

I liked the people and the atmosphereof biking, and I began to look forwardto my first race. My competitive spiritkicked in, and I trained extremely hard,riding extra laps on the course afterpractice to improve. With my first race,I had no expectation of what was tocome; when I got in the start gate andthey said go, I pedaled. I was passingpeople steadily throughout the race, butstarted thinking I was in last placebecause suddenly there was no one

around me. But then, as I wasapproaching the last hill of the course, Isaw someone ahead who I thought wasin my category. He was unable to stayon his bike during the steep incline, sowhen he got off to walk, I passed him. Isaw everyone cheering for me. I pedaledas hard as I could over the crest of thehill, and when I crossed the finish line,my friends shouted that I had won. Idid not believe them at first, but then itsunk in; I had actually won my first race!That summer, I started to compete inevery race that I could find in Colorado,and I am now an avid biker.

The RKMP has changed my life.Before I met Mr. Barros, I was a lazy kidwho thought that he was a climber.Now I am a biker and a climber.

A Lazy Kid Who Thought He Was A ClimberBy Gus Gardner ’09

From left, Caleb Booth ’09, Gus Gardner ’09, and mountain bike team captain George Haydock ’09