Take a Hike
Story: Madison Kozera
In most typical classes, students walk into their classrooms donning their backpacks filled with notebooks, pens, and textbooks alike, ready to learn and take notes on the next chapter of the lesson. When offered a class more physically demanding, with its learning taking place totally outside of the regular classroom, a few students recently replaced their school bookbags with hiking packs, ready to learn about nature and their own spiritualities in tandem.
In the fall of 2023, nine students joined Dr. Michael Krom, Br. Roman Pallone, and Nurse Jenna Gorsich, C 19, through a forty-mile trip on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail as part of their PL 263: Outdoor Leadership class. The Outdoor Leadership class came to Dr. Krom as a result of his own personal love for backpacking, a passion he hoped to share with students interested in exploring both themselves and the outdoors.
“For almost twenty years, it’s been in the back of my mind to create an outdoor leadership class,” Dr. Krom divulged, “and the conditions were finally right to make this a reality. The catalyst was that in 2021-2022 I had the opportunity to do some research on the philosophy of outdoor education.”
Dr. Krom explained that the founder of the philosophy of outdoor education, Kurt Hahn, inspired him to take up more research on the topic, excited to learn more about the subject while also filling his repertoire of knowledge to create a class of his own. He discovered how Hahn “established his first school on the grounds of a former monastery, and he himself saw Benedictine spirituality as an inspiration.” While most outdoor schools began with this idea in mind, they tended to fall away from the spiritual formation aspects of the philosophy. Wanting to follow in Hahn’s footsteps, Dr. Krom crafted his class in order to not only continue the use of the outdoor classroom, but to also return the classroom to its Benedictine heritage.
Combining his research and his own backpacking skills with some help from Dr. Elaine Bennett and Br. Roman and Gorsich’s medical background, Dr. Krom finally had all of the tools he needed to craft the Outdoor Leadership class he had been dreaming of creating.
Prior to the forty miles the group would eventually have to hike over the course of five days, the students were required to complete eight hikes on their own, taking their hiking packs with them and noting their experiences to better prepare for the final trip. These practice runs included a 1500-foot elevation hike, a wet weather hike, and a ten-mile hike, each of these used to build the students’ skills and lay the groundwork for the demanding forty miles ahead of them. The students on the trip—recent spring 2024 graduates Sam Bringman, Jonah Vaglia, John Hurley, Parker Bowser, and Helen Kish and seniors David Richman, Thomas Anand, Sarah Burger, and Chloe Fontanazza—all eagerly stepped up to the challenge and completed their training preparations for the coming trip, each more than ready to begin their trek over the coming fall break.
Their journey began at the head of the Laurel Highland Trail in Ohiopyle State Park on Friday, October 13, 2023. The group, though perhaps a little daunted by the upcoming trek, took their troubles and gave them to God, ready to face whatever lied ahead.
Across the forty miles, the hikers experienced numerous trials and tribulations, including steep inclines, allergic reactions, and rainy weather that fought them throughout their trip. Relying on God and one another, the students and their leaders managed to not only successfully complete the forty-mile adventure, but they grew closer with their faith and party members along the way.
Although the students and leaders were grateful for the lessons gained from the trip, collectively, almost every individual agreed that the weather remained the biggest hurdle and the one aspect of the trip they wish they could have changed.
“It rained for most of the journey and poured the rest,” Vaglia commented. “With temperatures down in the thirties at night, this made keeping dry a necessity.”
Starting a fire, then, also quickly became a necessity, and while numerous individuals on the trip knew how to start a fire with dry wood, almost none of them knew how to start one with wet wood—all except David Richman, that is.
“David Richman was the only reason we survived,” Bringman shared. “He got a fire started every night, somehow producing flames from wet wood. He was most definitely the MVP of the hike.”
“Like a tenacious Prometheus, David managed to start fire from water,” Vaglia added. “He not only provided fire to his own shelter but worked so that fires could be started in each of the other shelters. He did this on multiple occasions, and his selfless efforts for the good of the party will never be forgotten.”
“A wilderness expedition like we undertook develops the virtue of magnanimity, the ability to pursue and accomplish something truly honorable and exceedingly difficult, with God’s help and for His greater glory.”
Of course, while Richman saved the group from cold nights thanks to his backpacking and fire-starting skills, each member of the party played a key role in the success of the trip. From Br. Roman’s magic trick performances to raise the group’s morale to Thomas Anand’s positive attitude that kept the group moving, every individual carried a vital part in helping the group complete the forty-mile trail. Gorsich noted how this “strong community aspect” remained her favorite part about the trip as a whole.
“Everyone kept a positive attitude and supported each other along the way,” she explained. “Each member brought their own unique strengths, know-how, and supplies, and together we had everything that we needed and more.”
Not only did every member have an opportunity to learn more about themselves and others, but they also had a chance to engage more deeply in their relationship with God and the Benedictine Hallmarks, which is what the class was originally designed for.
“Benedictine Outdoor Leadership offered a unique opportunity to build character and virtue that can’t be duplicated in a classroom,” wrote Br. Roman. “A wilderness expedition like we undertook develops the virtue of magnanimity, the ability to pursue and accomplish something truly honorable and exceedingly difficult, with God’s help and for His greater glory. Everyone in our group succeeded in doing just that, and that success has prepared them to be strong leaders, capable of pursuing greater feats in the future, with a faith firmly rooted in Christ.”
“I am so thankful for this time to put the Benedictine Hallmarks into practice, learning more deeply the importance of a community rooted in prayer and work,” said Dr. Krom. “I learned a lot from this trip about what it means to say that we are called to always and everywhere love God and neighbor as self.”
In putting the Benedictine Hallmarks into practice and every individual’s faith to the test, the students and leaders alike learned how to rely both on God and each other, even during the lowest points of the trip. Through their daily prayers, hikes, and time spent around the campfires, on Tuesday, October 17, 2023, the party completed their trek, each of them filled with a newfound confidence regarding the hike they had just accomplished.
As this class is to be offered every fall, Saint Vincent students are encouraged to take the plunge and test their perseverance with the Outdoor Leadership class, choosing a class designed to grant students opportunities to strengthen their relationships with each other, Christ, and themselves. For those willing to challenge themselves with new outdoor experiences or to relive old ones, all one needs to do is speak with the recent participants to be assured that this class is for you—each of these students carries with them stories to encourage others to undertake the same forty-mile journey that they already have.