Students Under the Stars
Students Under the Stars
Leader
Timothy Cote
Location
International High School at Union Square New York, NY 10003
About the project
Our School's Wilderness Club is raising money to get supplies and train tickets to take an overnight, back-country camping trip upstate. There is a DIY element to our club, and students learn survival skills while learning about nature. We have already built home-made fishing poles from tree saplings, and used them to fish the East River.
For the camping trip, students will learn how to make their own shelters with tarp and rope, as well as learn to sew by making their own primitive sleeping bags. We have a dehydrator that we’ll use to dehydrate our own food to pack on the hike. Our goal is to take Metro-North to the Appalachian Trail Metro-North Railroad station, hike out for half a day, set up camp, practice various survival skills, and return to the city the next day. We are trying to raise enough money to do a day hike prior to the overnight hike for practice.
One of the goals of our after-school club is to expose inner-city, immigrant students to the variety of native habitats of New York State. All of our students have recently immigrated to the United States and are new to English. Many of them were more in touch with nature in their native countries, and one of the hardships of their immigration experience is to be deprived of nature here in the city.
We need to raise $1800 for Metro-North tickets, $300 for food stuffs, and $500 for DIY supplies (fabric, down, line, tarps, wire, and first aid materials).
The Steps
Our club has already procured woodworking tools, a sewing machine, and a food dehydrator. The next step will be buying our materials for our tent and sleeping bag projects, followed by purchasing our train tickets, and then traveling and using our DIY projects.
Why we‘re doing it
The students want to learn DIY skills and use the products they create in the outdoors. They also are interested in exploring the wilderness of New York State.
Our stories:
Jamal (Yemen):
hi , my name is jamal, I'm from yemen,I came to new york in Seventeen months ago,I was living in the munten in my country , every day I take donkey to go to the school and some times I woke to ,I grew with nature, when I come to new york everything in my life change,like for example that i have to take train to go my home Instead of walking or taking my donkey ,Initiated my spirits down, Im here in new york for Seventeen months ago, every time that I looked it the stars I never see it like how I was see it in my country I think that because in new york has many lights or maybe that I don’t have time to look it the sky,I want to go for trip that it’s not a Normal trip, because we gonna go to wilderness and stay there for one day, and we will hiking and camping in the mountain, and we want to DIY to Skills development ,and Training is capable of life in the wilderness, so if we go to this trip, I will stay under the stars and look at them, I know we will stay for just one day, but i think that it’s enough for me to think that i stay in this Beautiful universe.
Ricky (Dominican Republic):
Hi my name is Ricky Gomez i am 14 years and as growing up in the Dominican republic i have feel natural very close. This is the first reason why i sign in to the wilderness club I really like the life you live in the country because just feeling the fresh air in your face is a bless from god. My family and i move to new York for new opportunities but i really miss my old life. As you know new York is full of pollution in very numerals ways this is why i really need the opportunity to get a chase to again remember how does it feels to live in the healthy environment of nature before it goes away for ever......
Ratri (Bangladesh):
There are some reason why I want to be in Wilderness club. One reason I want to be in wilderness club is because my goal was to keep practice running because as I remember when I was a kid In my country I got award running for 1st place of running. The weird thing is now, I can run as fast as I done before because I stopped running long time ago. I also have lots of prizes for 1st and second place winner. I also agreed to Lilette win what she said about the nature of her country which is Myanmar because according to what she said In my country Bangladesh there really excellent place for adventure. I also went to lots of places like that because my dad also like adventure. This are the reasons why I am in wilderness club. I love nature because of different trees , birds , river and hills. I had 4 birds in my country they are four different color . These are orange , blue , yellow , ash with white. I loved them and they was so close to me because whenever I went close to them they make some sound that shows that they are happy to see me. Everyday I had see them after I awake because If I don’t see them I feel like My day be bad today. Other than that I always keep meet with them.
Edison (Ecuador):
My name is Edison Tenezaca. I'm 16 years old and and from Ecuador. When i was in ecuador i use to live around nature but when i move to united state i miss the nature, stars around the sky and the stars leak fly in the milky way. I join the wilderness clus so i could be active and know the nature and be close. I have notice that the planet is warming up because people don't respect the nature. When we go camping we will have our knowledge how we could treat the nature to not destroy more and how we could use our DIY skill to make different object with our hand. For example, the fishing pole.
Lilette (Myanmar):
There are several reasons why I want to be in Wilderness Club. One would be because in Myanmar, which is the place I came from have a lot of beautiful nature. I grew up in that kind of place and I realized that in New York, you do not always get a chance to interact with nature. I remembered, as a kid, I would look up in the sky and stare at those countless beautiful twinkling stars, but in a city like this, you can no longer see the stars because of the lights from tall buildings are replacing its place. Another reason would be because of my personality. I love adventures and I am adventurous. I want to go camping and hiking in the wilderness simply because I love nature. To go on an adventure, I know that I would definitely be needing DIY skills and ways to protect myself. That is where the Wilderness Club comes in place. This club can teach me everything about wilderness and also, different skills to survive. That alone is enough reasons for me to be in Wilderness Club and I would definitely love to go to a place like Appalachian Trail which is surrounded by nature.
Penpa (Nepal):
Hi my name is Penpa Lhamo.I was born in Tibet but i moved to Nepal when i was a little kid.I goes to a school name International High School at Union Square.I have been to usa for 3 years n half months.I decide to involve in the Program called a Wilderness Club because i can go to running its will be healthy for me and it also going to help me in the future.Nepal is known as a most beautiful country because the hight mountain in the world called Mt.Everest is there.Also there are many different kinds of beautiful mountains are there,for example;Arnapurna,Himalayan and Dhaulagiri. Now i am gonna talk more about my life from my childhood to adolescence also about my country nature. After i moved to nepal i went to a boarding school. Boarding school it mean the school we have to stay,study,eat also we cant meet our parents anyway i felt so lonely that time because my mom she left me n my dad went to United States of America(USA). We had to pay lots of money to that school its not like here free school.That school was surrounded by Hills,Mountains,Rivers,ponds .But after that i spend all the time n days n years with out my dad and mom.At the first i felt so lonely but after that i didn't felt anything because of the beauty of the nature.Nature took all of me and my attention.There i didn't had any people who loves me and also there weren't any people i love but i do have something that i love is i am love with a nature.Nature is my family n everything when i see nature i feel like i saw my mom who left me.Nature is the one thing that brings smile on my face..... The school rule was to 1)wake up early in the morning at 5:00am 2)We have to be a fresh 3)Eat break fast 4)Tuition 5) Meditation for an hour and pray to god 10) Wear a uniform 11) make up a line in the middle of the ground and we have to do some exercise and Sing a National Anthem and aslo each day 5 or 10 students have to give speech or tell story or a sing a song in front of everyone 12) Go to class History, English ,Mathematics,Health Science also they have a Nepali class two times 13) When the school dismiss change the uniform and wash face ,hands n legs.14) Go to Tibetan class 15) Tuition(we can do homework,reads books etc.16) Eat dinner 17) Got to sleep hangout with friends etc.I went to that school for 8 years and i left that school when i finished with eight.I moved to a city called Kathmandu i didn't went to school at that city but i did went to tuition for two years so i can't forget my knowledge n then i came here to usa with my brother.Now i miss the beautiful natures of my country(my family).So now i want to see a beautiful natures in the New York and United States of America.So now my brother,sister,uncle,aunt,grandmother,grandfather,mr.,miss, i need ur help.Only u guys can help me and my others groups or teams.i have hope also my hope will still be...........................after all i know that the nature is everything nature is my parents my love and it still will be my love..........................it brings smile n laugh on my face....thank you thats my story *_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Zhi Jie (China):
My name is Zhi Jie. I come from China .The reason why I join the club is that nowadays more and more people live in city ,they begin forgetting the beautiful sceneries of nature .I like nature .I like forest and river .They are the gifts from nature .When I looked at them ,I would feel relaxed ,I will forget the phone and annoyances .In addition ,it’s really cool that we go to wildness then live without the High-tech tools and make food and tools by ourselves ! I learn some wildness skills in this club .I like this club ^ ^