Canoe Trip 07 By Daniel Freitas

ACE finally had its first over night trip of the year. This year teachers Anthony and Diana took 15 kids and went down to the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, where they canoed approximately 28 miles in 3 days. The first day they drove down to Pennsylvania and canoed 7 miles. Unfortunately one student got sick and had to be sent home, but even after losing one of the team members, they still stuck it through. After canoeing those 7 miles, and two canoes flipping over, they finally got to the camp ground and set up camp. Students made dinner from canned goods over a bon fire and enjoyed themselves.

The next morning they were already on the river by 9 a.m. They canoed about 13 miles that day. Alaina from ACE who attended the trip says that “It was good to see students that you don’t normally see doing good things actually sticking together and working as a team.” When Alaina’s canoe flipped on the first day of the trip she was glad that her fellow class mate Joel was there to help her when it happened because she would have lost all of her belongings. Every year one of the favorite parts of the trip is where they sit around the camp fire and each student talks about how much they appreciate each other. Aaron from ACE says that his favorite part was being in the wood and talking and enjoying time with others that he normally doesn’t speak to at all.

In the end all the students enjoyed themselves and even though they don’t know it, they actually learned something as well. They learned teamwork, how to stick together and in the end they realized that they can trust each other. This is only one out of many trips that ACE has, and everyone that goes on them, come back to me and tell me how much of a thrill and experience they had. People don’t understand the kind of relationship that the ACE teachers have with the students, and that’s why when students graduate from ACE, they let everyone know, that ACE is the place to be.