Aspen–Aspen High School is unique in many ways but most memorable is the Experiential Educational program. For a week in the fall, the students of AHS take part in activities such as surfing in California, kayaking in the San Juan Islands, and exploring our local terrain. While many groups are required to complete some type of service as a part of their trip, the commitment to the service and activities vary.

This year I was on Open Air Exploration, a local trip that explores the different hiking trails in the valley. I spent the week hiking trails like Hunter Creek, Lost Man, Conundrum, the Rim Trail, and Crater Lake with three leaders and twenty students. While many students view local trips as less desirable than other trips, because students prefer to spend their week somewhere new, AHS teacher and Open Air Exploration group leader, Sarah Ward, believes that they are very valuable.

“I think the benefits of a local trip are getting to know and give back to your community, a place that you live every day, especially because we have so many resources here and people that go all over the country when right in our backyard we have so many opportunities,” Ward said. “It gives people more time to explore those and look at them from a different perspective.”

Our service came in the form of trail building and maintenance in Snowmass with the Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers. According to Elizabeth Bailey, the RFOV Youth Program Coordinator, the goal was to stop people from berating the trail by creating new switchbacks to help lessen the amount of rolled ankles and bicycle accidents. The work was intense and extremely tiring, and most of the students were not very excited about how they were spending their day.

“Today I feel like a slave,” AHS junior Brevitt Livingston expressed after the first three hours of manual labor.

As the day dragged on, the attitude of our group worsened. Long conversations about the other Ex-Eds ensued followed by speculations of the more enjoyable activities they were participating in. When lunch time finally came, the students were no longer quiet in their disdain for the activity, and the group leaders worked to remind people of the benefits of the service work.

In typical high schooler fashion, the group was not extremely excited about the thought of picking the pulaski back up and digging trenches for another two hours after lunch. Despite all the grumbling we were able to finish off a large section of the trail and dig a lot of trenches to keep water from eroding the trail. Although it was an incredibly long day, a few students including AHS junior Ashley Soderberg were able to see the benefits of our work.

“It was nice to give back to our community because we have all these trails accessible in our valley so it was just a great opportunity to give back and appreciate what we have,” Soderberg said.

Personally I found it very difficult to keep a positive attitude throughout the day when everyone around me had such a distinctly negative one. I wondered how people could be so inconvenienced by helping out our community which has done so much for us, especially since it was so beautiful. As the day went on, I was able to see how a few negative comments influenced the outcome of the entire day like a dark cloud masking the sun. Digging trenches and widening trails is not exactly my activity of choice but for all the opportunities and amazing things that the Ex-Ed program and our community give to us, it was worth it. At times, it was hard to connect to the project because very few people in the group were avid mountain bikers or hikers, but the extent to which the negativity reached was unnecessary. I have found that it takes a conscience effort to improve your attitude and can only be changed when you decide to stop letting it influence your day. By the end of the week I was able to register how other people’s attitudes were affecting my own and try to remain unaffected by them as well as find ways to enjoy what I was doing. I believe that Ex-Ed is a privilege and while there are some trips that are more desirable, there is something to be gained from every trip.