OCL (Outside Classroom Learning) Program For Hopetown Girls School, Dehradun

25th March - 29th March 2012

MID TERM’S a few years ago this word was associated with quarterly exams, however Hopetown School has given this word a new meaning, now it’s their annual outing for students to various locations. And this time the girls of Class VIII landed on our very own Camp Redstone. 

Super charged up the girls arrived at Camp Redstone on 25th March’12 around 9’O clock in the morning least expecting what’s in-store for them. After a bit of briefing regarding the camp and its location the girls went to have their breakfast. Later they were divided into 6 teams of 10 students each, and were asked to design their team flags and slogans, this they did with full enthusiasm and spirit and created beautiful flags just like you’d imagine girls would do, all glittery and jazzed up!

After a little further briefing about the day’s activities and Do’s & Don't at the camp, the kids went exploring the Camp surroundings with the camp manager. After lunch the students learnt about Rope Knots, various types and its importance and where to use it practically. In fact to test the same they further went on for their next activity “Raft Building”, for this 2 teams were grouped together and were supposed to collectively build a raft and further test the rafts durability at the Camps very own private lake. The excitement for this activity was noteworthy!

After munching on their evening snacks the girls went on for team games testing their leadership, coordination and unity. After dinner they went on for their last activity of the day an “experiment on stalactites and stalagmites”.

Day 2, started early at 5:45 AM with a lot of cribbing and light exercises followed by happy faces after seeing breakfast being served. After breakfast, again a lot of cribbing and health excuses, since today was their day long hike (The kids were not aware that the hike was cut short and they were to return to camp earlier than planned). Anyhow they march on carrying the material for lunch prep since they were suppose to cook their own meals today (unknown of the surprise hidden MAGGIE). The trek led them to a government school where they interacted with the school kids and teachers, getting entertained by the students of the school by their dance and music performances and later on doing the same for those kids. On the way back, we finally halted at the spot where the teams were suppose to cook their Maggie, it was amazing to see what a bunch of hungry kids can do with their packs of Maggie, just one word ‘DELICIOUS’. Energized again we head back to the camp for yet another wilderness survival activity “Shelter Making”, needless to say the girls again did a wonderful job. 

Today after these activities the teams were given different camp tasks to perform like managing Food, House Keeping, Bonfire, Leave No Trace and Media, a time slot was allotted for these camp management tasks and in the span of 3 days all the 6 teams were to take care of all these activities one by one. It was amazing to see the dedication with which the girls performed all these tasks.

Later after dinner, 3 teams went on for their Night Sky Observation all excited to spot Saturn’s rings and the craters on Moon, learning about constellations and other heavenly objects. The other 3 teams chose to watch a movie however later decided to hit the bed early since they had to wake up early the next day for their Bird Watching session.

Day 3, started with an early morning wake up call for the 3 teams who had Bird Watching today, however today there was no cribbing. The girls spotted 18 varieties of birds and returned happily to the camp to have breakfast.

After breakfast, different teams went for different activities like ‘Nature Furniture’, ‘Rocketry’, ‘Adventure Activities’, Circumference of earth and directions using shortest shadow method and finally doing the ‘Treasure Hunt’ in between returning for lunch, these activities carried on till the evening. Later tonight there was a surprise party for the girls of Hopetown combined with Birthday celebrations of a classmate. The energy with which they danced, no one could say that these girls had a tiring and hectic day. Finally they were made to go to bed at 11:00 P.M by their teachers since they were again supposed to wake up early the next day.

Day 4 went on almost the same way as day 3 till lunch and later after lunch everybody headed out for the ‘Cave Exploration Trek’, the girls were tired yet full of spirit and they went ahead to explore the Cave with the Stalagmites and Stalactites formation, having yet another informational journey. The girls returned to camp just in time for evening snacks later followed by camp tasks and then submitting their journals. Today again we had a clear night sky and the teams went onto observe the planets and constellations.

Day 5 was the final day at Camp Red Stone for the girls of Hopetown School. 3 teams went ahead for their final stretch of activities ‘Rocketry’, they made their own rockets and successfully launched them, understanding the principals of good designing and aerodynamic efficiency. Finally around 11:30 A.M to wind up the trip, they had their prize distribution and luncheon.