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Area students complete three-year mission to retrace explorers’ steps
After students and staff members from Western Carolina University’s Talent Search Program rolled the last mile to the Pacific Ocean and dismounted from their mountain bikes, completing a three-year effort to retrace the path of the Lewis and Clark Expedition from St. Louis, Mo., to the Oregon coast, there was a predictable round of hugs, tears and high-fives as they dipped their feet in the salty water.
But there also was bittersweet regret for some students participating in this year’s “Lewis and Clark Expedition of Rediscovery,” said Todd Murdock, director of Western’s Talent Search Program.
“Several of the kids commented about feeling great because of their huge accomplishment, and at the same time they were sad because this great adventure that they had been looking forward to for so long was over,” Murdock said.
“Many felt they might never do anything like that again in their lives. We told them, ‘Baloney. You’re still young. This experience raises the bar for you. We think you will enjoy many more adventures in your life. It’s up to you to get out there and pursue them.’”
The group of nine Western North Carolina high school students and program staff traveled from Cullowhee to Missoula, Mont., July 5 to begin a three-week bicycling journey of 752 miles in which they followed as closely as possible the route taken by the famed Lewis and Clark expedition 200 years ago. Previous contingents finished the first 950 miles of the route, from St. Louis to western Montana, by bicycle and canoe during trips in the summers of 2003 and 2004.
This year’s group of students included Smoky Mountain High School junior Jason Crisp, who completed the first legs of the trip in 2003-04, as well as sophomore Andrew White, who was participating for the first time.
Adult staff included Murdock; Talent Search staff members Maggie Donahue, Lisa Dubbert, Leigh McDonald and Russ Harris; and a Talent Search graduate, Troy Adams.
The 2005 route took the group across the northern Rocky Mountains, along the Snake River, and through the Columbia River Gorge to the Oregon coast. The three-week journey entailed a total of 49 flat tires and three days in which the group pedaled more than 70 miles, including one 75-mile day in the gorge, pedaling for six hours into a 30-mile-per-hour headwind – the hardest day of the trip, Murdock said.
During the journey, the group camped in established campgrounds, city parks and at county fairgrounds, with the students cooking their own meals and recording their thoughts each night in personal journals. They also visited historic sites along the route and talked about issues such as leadership, group dynamics and personal responsibility, Murdock said.
After completing this year’s Expedition of Rediscovery July 22, the Talent Search group visited Lewis and Clark’s winter camp and toured Astoria, Ore., before flying back to North Carolina July 25.
Looking back on the three years of the Expedition of Rediscovery, which involved a total of 16 students, Murdock said it has been “awesome” for the staff to observe the students as they discovered that they can do things they didn’t know they could do before.
The challenges presented by the entire Expedition of Rediscovery – the immense physical challenge of the bicycling and paddling, the social challenge of learning how to function as a group, and the emotional challenge of being away from home – all served to open up possibilities for the students, who came back from the trips with a “world view” and a “self-view” different from the one they held before, Murdock said.
“The neatest part for me has been watching them discover the good qualities they have. They have so very much fortitude and perseverance,” he said.
“I don’t know if these trips gave the students those qualities, but I’m sure that it did reveal them,” Murdock said.
Talent Search is a federally-funded effort that Western has hosted for 24 years. The program provides students with academic, career and financial aid counseling while encouraging them to attend college.
The expedition was financed with federal funds appropriated by the U.S. Department of Education. The trips were free for the students, who only had to provide their own spending money, clothing and personal items. Sponsors for the trip included Motion Makers Bicycle Shop and Nantahala Outdoor Center.
For more information about the program, call 227-7137.
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