Anyone who has broken the rules at school has probably spent some time in detention — a few hours stuck in a classroom, monitored by a teacher who really doesn't want to be there either. Alternatives to this form of punishment can include some type of restorative task or community service, such as picking up trash. But one school counselor at Morse High School in Bath has been piloting a program that takes kids out into nature.
Leslie Trundy, stops in front of a map on the Whiskeag trail in Bath to explain the route that her seven students will follow for the next two hours.
"We kind of take a side shoot here, so we make a loop, but we'll come back along the river, and then we'll come back. We should be back by four to the school. Okay? Does anyone have any questions," Trundy said.
The students are serving detention for an array of infractions.
"I yelled at a teacher rudely cause I didn't feel like doing something, and when they tried to make me do it, I got angry and yelled at them," Freshman, Nicholas Tanguay said.
"Probably like skipping class, or, like, added up tardies from class. Like, never, like, actually, like getting in trouble, in trouble," Sophomore, Elsie Nelson-Walling said.
"Playing video games in my teacher's class, and she got mad at me And I found that one stupid. So I was like, I'm not sitting in the classroom for that," Freshman, Wyatt Wells said.
And instead of sitting in class, these three chose to spend their detention hiking after school. Trundy, a counselor at Morse, began the program after she attended an outdoor education conference this past fall. She wondered whether spending time outdoors might encourage the kids to open up about the problems they might be experiencing.
"My hope was that time in the woods like I could sort of take the skills that I have on the road with them or on the trail, and be a listener for them, and pay back the time to the school and sort of serve their consequence. But also receive more care and attention," said Trundy.
Trundy said she's fielded some criticism from those who don't believe that a walk in the woods is enough punishment for making poor choices, and said some parents have refused to let their kids take part.
So, is it making a difference?
"I don't think I have enough data yet that's statistically relevant, but I have had kids join the club because of going on the hike and that I feel really very happy about," Trundy said.
The club in this case is the outdoor outing club that Trundy helps run.
Wyatt Wells, the freshman video game player, said he's served 6 or 7 detention hikes this year but joined this one voluntarily.
"I haven't gotten detention in three months now, since the new year, I told my mom I was not getting any more detentions," Wells said.
And then there's Sona Kipoy, who doesn't have a history of getting into trouble. When asked if she's ever gotten detention Kipoy said "Nah, I'm a good kid."
Kipoy is a Sophomore at Morse High School and a new Mainer, she was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and she said the hikes — she's been on 10 this year— have helped her "find herself."
"So you can just find yourself, yeah, I guess finding yourself in a forest is easier than in the city," Kipoy said.
Halfway through the hike, the group takes a snack break and Trundy reads a poem.
"Can I see the buds that are swelling in the woods on the slopes on the far side of the valley? I can't, of course, nor can I see the twin leaves and anemones that are blooming over there right scattered above the dead leaves, but the swelling buds and little blossoms make a new softness in the light that is visible all the way here, the trees the hills that were stark in the old cold become now tender and time changes," Trundy said.
Nicholas Tanguay is in detention for yelling at his teacher and said the hikes give him time and space to reflect in a way he couldn't just sitting in a classroom.
"It makes me have to, like, walk. It makes it makes you breathe heavily, obviously, and it feels like an accomplishment, almost," said Tanguay. "I think that maybe it's also good for people's mental health. I mean, in general, nature and hikes are just really good for people's mentality. So when you maybe you've had, if you maybe you've had a bad day, the option to do this after knowing you have a detention means you have to dread it less."
Trundy said she intends to start up the optional hike program again in the fall and is interested to see if the same group will be joining her next year.
"I'm so curious if some of the freshmen that I've started hiking with this year, are they still hiking with me when they're seniors on detention, or are they hiking an outing club like these students? I could see leadership potential in a lot of them," Trundy said.
