A highlight for many students who have attended Cotter Junior High School is the Eagle Bluff trip.

A tradition since  2000, the school makes the trip every other year, so each student will have the experience while they’re at CJHS. It gives the students the opportunity to try new activities outdoors and build team building skills.

“The purpose is to be able to get the students out of thew classroom and to a learning environment outside outside of the classroom, most of the courses are taught outside and gives a new learning perspective,”  said Mr. Forney, who has been involved since the beginning of Cotter’s relationship with the Eagle Bluff Center.

In the first week of March,7th and 8th graders made the trip to Lanesboro. They got to experience many new outdoor activities like survival classes and trekking across the dreaded High Ropes course over a bluff, which is a highlight in the memories of previous groups.

One goal for the trip is to learn outdoor educational skills as well as teambuilding within the junior high grades.  Mr. Haun, a new chaperone and group leader, said he liked to see “..the kids outside of the classroom and to see them interact with the environment and each other.”

The trip is not all sunshine and rainbows, however, it is a complex event to plan and carry out. Whether it is funding or relying on the kids to take responsibility to get their paperwork filled out and turned in on time, it takes a lot to get the group to the site.

“Organizing the trip was kind of a challenge just with a lot of paperwork,  to make sure everything was turned in on time and I received some help from Mr.Forney and few other teachers. As for personal challenges, I would say the High Ropes course was sort of a challenge,” Haun said.

The trip is usually a new experience for the kids and often a new experience for the teachers. too, as in Mr. Haun’s case this year. The center gives groups the opportunity to get out of the classroom and interact and see how work together to overcome an objective. It feels like a vacation for many people, but it is also serves an educational purpose and shows them a new getaway in their region.

The trip this year included many courses that have been taken by previous students. For the outdoor classes this year the kids took a class on animal signs. They had to create posters that would teach other groups the importance of the animal and what it had to provide to the environment around them. Another class, and personal favorite from my Eagle Bluff trip,  is the Winter Survival class. The survival class poses a physical and mental challenge. The Eagle Bluff instructor teaches the groups tips for situations like building a fire and making tents out of a few supplies.

Another outdoor class was the group challenges. This force students to work together to overcome the given challenges. The activities are usually team building exercises. Two favorite for Cotter students have been the outdoor classes are the high ropes course and the night hike.

The indoor classes this year they had classes on reptiles and raptors,  like the red tail hawk and barn owl. 

” I think there were a few other classes that I would like the students to take. To try out a different experience. Overall I think the trip went really well and the kids liked it too,” Mr. Haun said.

Mr. Forney has similar memories from his trips to Eagle Bluff: “I always liked being on the ropes course because I can see the students overcome some fears they have which caries over into academics. They arent as afraid to try new things. Just seeing students succeed is amazing. Another cool thing was the night walk because I remember one time we could  hear all the coyotes howling because they were so close.

After the trip many people, students and advisers said they would like to have an opportunity to go again. And, if tradition is a guide,  the next group of CJHS students will also share this experience.