Students Reflect on Solo Experiences in the Forest
December 7, 2023
Throughout the semester, students in TA’s environmental studies and outdoor education course work toward an important milestone - the overnight solo experience. The experience at TA is similar to solos in programs like Outward Bound, and challenges students to spend time alone, connecting with nature and practicing self-reliance. Like the protagonist in John Smelzer’s “The Trap,” a book students read in the course, students bring only limited supplies to the solo overnight. For example, matches and warm layers - but no electronics or other modern distractions. They use what they’ve learned about the science of staying warm, how to make a...
