On September 20, the plurality of Haldane High School’s senior regiment attended their annual Senior Kayak trip and participated in a drunk driving education course. The seniors were split into two groups of approximately identical size, which rotated after a few hours. Organized by Senior Class Advisor Joe Virgadamo and Youth program specialist Evan Delfs, two sets of activities were provided: the drunk driving education course by the Putnam County Youth Bureau and the kayaking trip by Hudson River Expeditions.
The drunk driving education course primarily detailed the various hazards that involved intoxicated handling of motor vehicles. Some of the more popular courses involved the go kart, which could be manipulated by instructors to imitate drunk driving (well, it would still be safe of course, we are very squishy high schoolers after all, aren’t we?)
Students were properly buckled into a go-kart and donned a helmet before being directed to drive a single loop around a course composed of traffic cones. Control of the vehicles was deliberately stolen mid-drive. Callie Sniffen commented, “I floored it and hit 20 cones! I learned a lot about the importance of controlling my vehicle.” In another activity, road intoxication tests were performed with the assistance of Haldane SRO Officer Anthony Tolve. Students received goggles meant to imitate drunkenness, a high off cannabinoids, or both simultaneously, and ran through a selection of real tests that are conducted on DUI perpetrators. However, some students didn’t find the course all that helpful. “I didn’t catch the connection each activity had to realistic driving experiences,” senior Robert Freidmark commented. “There was an underlying principle that ‘distraction takes away concentration’ but I don’t know how many times that has been ingrained into our minds.”
Despite the joy of the cannabinoid simulations, and the jubilation as people called for their friends to crash, the créme de la créme of the trip however, were, of course, the kayaks. Students were driven down via school bus to the Foundry Dock Park to meet the local kayaking experts from Hudson River Expeditions. Students chose between single and double kayaks, after which they spent several hours on the water taking in the serenity and conversing with their compatriots. Senior Josie Foley-Hedlund and her kayak mate, Amelia Alayon, expressed great pleasure at being out on the water. They spoke of being appreciative of the local village and said that they relished the opportunity to even participate in this trip at all. Similar opinions were echoed by other participants. Kaitlyn Secor, High School Government teacher and one of the chaperones, spoke glowingly on the trip, saying: “I think it’s very cool that we get to be in such a beautiful place where we can do this with our students, and I think it’s cool that we get to consider it work.” She continued. “I think the Senior Kayak Trip is a great tradition and I hope we get to continue to do it in the future.”
While most students were aware of the Hudson River’s various ecological pollutants and murky status, many were happy to just focus on recreation. Aleksander Normae, one of the participants, mentioned how he has spent a great deal of his life near the river, expressing a great connection to it already, with the expedition on the water simply reminding him of previous trips he spent on the riverfront. “I love the river, it’s dirty, it’s nasty, it’s fun,” Normae said.
Ultimately, the day’s experiences were educational and entertaining for students and teachers, providing a bonding opportunity unlike any other for resident learners in their final year at Haldane.
