Seniors Reflect on How AWE Influenced Their Everyday Lives

The Athenian Wilderness Experience (AWE) is one of the most Athenian things about Athenian. It’s an indispensable tradition and a fundamental part of the school’s identity. The 12th-grade class bonds over stories from AWE and every ninth-grader steps foot on campus knowing they will end up backpacking in the High Sierras or Death Valley one day.

Daily life on AWE is very different from what students usually experience. Accordingly, they often imagine it will be transformative for themselves and their class. Eleventh-graders speculate about how different their friends will be after, and parents wait expectantly, wondering if their kids matured on the trip.

Some 12th-graders, however, felt that they didn’t gain much from AWE. Twelfth-grader Sebastian Vargas explained that he felt like the school was forcing reflection and growth on him, paradoxically making it harder to improve himself.

“I don’t like to have set times to reflect. I just reflect as I live, so having set times to reflect just felt like times to sit there,” Sebastian said, “I want [reflection] to be more spontaneous than forced upon me, so something like Solo was miserable. I wasn’t in a reflecting mode, so I would just sit there.”

Sebastian also said that he does not believe AWE has inherently transformative potential, and instead only acts as an impetus to students who are already willing to improve themselves.

“I think [AWE] can act as a catalyst. That reaction could happen at any point. That reaction is started by AWE, but the enzyme that’s going to make that happen is going to be you. What I’m saying is that AWE can give some foundation, but it also can not. It all really depends on the people, and I don’t think AWE was necessarily helpful for that. [Self-improvement] can happen with or without AWE,” Sebastian said.

For others, including 12th-grader Clare Middlemiss, AWE was extremely beneficial.

“I think I’m a lot more relaxed now, especially right after coming back, because everything we encountered on AWE was just much more extreme. I think it taught you to break down what’s important, especially mental health-wise. You had to prioritize that a lot on AWE, so in my daily life, and now, it’s a lot easier to prioritize those things because we had practice,” Clare said.

During the independence period on AWE, instructors travel 45 minutes behind their groups, rather than with them. Students have to do everything from navigation to cooking by themselves. Clare explained how independence made bonding easier.

“Independence forced us to rely on each other, and it forced us to trust each other. And by rotating the roles, especially, it got people out of their comfort zone, because, you know, in the group there were people who tended to step back. But we were all forced to experience all the different roles and rely on each other when we did that, which was really different and you’re able to gain a better perspective on what other people go through,” Clare said.

For 12th-grader Max Bennett, the distraction-free environment of AWE sparked a period of personal growth and self-discipline.

“I think the most obvious change I made was I got really into meditating. Not in the kind of mindfulness the school might advocate or advertise for, but in kind of a more practicing discipline and clearing-my-mind way. And I just got more into being conscious about urges and wants in life, being self-conscious to the point where I think about why I get thoughts,” Max said.

However, AW E ’s influence does not just manifest on an individual level. Often, the 12th grade class culture is altered the moment students step back onto campus. However, Max was unsure whether AWE transformed his class as a whole.

“I don’t know if I think [the 12th grade class] changed at all, even. I think after AWE, a lot of people just returned to normal, even the people that we kind of knew on AWE. I think some of them have just returned to normal, returned to their friend groups, and just left it behind,” Max said.

On the other hand, several 12th-graders reported that their class culture has become more inclusive.

“It’s more friendly. I think social groups interact more. I think the thing they did where they broke apart all the social groups is actually quite helpful because people aren’t scared to talk to people outside of their circle. It’s nice,” Clare said,

“I think we’re more connected, for sure, and less judgy, maybe.”

Fall 2023 Issue