Racine & Me: Wolf River Rafting Trip Creates Lifelong Memories for Racine Students
RACINE, Wis, (CBS 58) -- Overview For the past 40 years, the Wolf River Rafting Trip has been a three-day experience for McKinley and Walden III students in Racine Unified! For the 40th anniversary, Racine Video Production Workshop was able to send a couple students and a staff to attend the 2014 trip in order to create a short documentary of the experience. This video project was made possible thanks to the support of the campgrounds, Herb's Wolf River Rafting, and especially United Way of Racine County. Background Larry Jozwik created and organized the first trip in 1984 when he was a teacher at McKinley Middle School in RUSD.
The rafting trip takes place on the portion of the Wolf River in White Lake, WI -Langlade County. There have been a few other teachers who have organized the trip, but currently, Gretchen Carlson, a science teacher at Walden III, has been organizing the trip for the past 15 years. The Weekend The trip starts with setting up camp, cooking on the campfire, and many team-building activities including sand volleyball, basketball, football, tag, and card games. On Saturday, students, parents, and teachers raft 11 miles on the Wolf River, which starts in the morning hours and takes until about dinner time to complete.
While on the river they experience class 1 and 2 rapids, eating on a small island, and seeing awesome WI wildlife. Most of the riverbank is not inhabited by humans so you are truly with nature. Part of the experience is cooking meals on the campfire or grill and roasting marshmallows for smores, with supervision. Sitting by the campfire at night is where many memories are created as well. Being in Northern WI you can see many stars and planets that you cannot see in Racine due to light pollution. Outcomes The Wolf River Rafting trip provides in many ways. Students get to camp, possibly for the first time, with their friends and classmates.
As the weekend goes by, they are on a self-journey, learning that they can do things that might be new or difficult, problem-solving with communication and teamwork are important life skills. Most importantly they learn that they can live without technology as there is little to no phone reception the entire weekend. Everyone can relax and not feel tied to their technology. In three days, memories are formed, possible tears shed, but most of all it is an experience that will last a lifetime. Overall The Wolf River Rafting trip allows students to learn outside the classroom by applying what they learn at school. They learn life-long lessons of teamwork, communication, and confidence. A trip that creates fond memories that have spread over generations in Racine.
You can watch the rafting trip video from the Racine Video Production Workshop here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smKCNZhNEf