Senior Anna Evans spent the second semester of her junior year in California for the Woolman Semester, a Quaker based alternative-educational experience that teaches its students about the world and how to embrace it.

Evans had a difficult time summing up her experience out in California. Still tan from her time spent at the Semester, Evans shifted and shuffled in her seat, trying to come up with an answer that she felt did justice to a (literally) ‘off the beaten path’ educational opportunity.

“There’s no way I could put my experience into words. They kind of want you to come out of the Woolman Semester knowing more about the world and the environment, as well as getting to know yourself better. There’s no main idea of the program but there is a definite focus. It’s up to the students to take what they are given and make it their own and do something with it. To sum up the semester into a sentence – it’s not possible.”

Before Evans found the Woolman Semester, she had decided that she was looking for a new experience beyond SSFS.

“I needed a change; about half way through sophomore year I was ready for a change from SSFS and I needed a break. I started looking around to transfer to another school but that sort of fell through, so I gave up for a while.”

It seemed like fate that Evans found the Woolman Semester; the answer to her search was hidden within her family.

“I was in Maine for the summer my Dad’s cousin Cindy, who is on the board and is really involved with the Woolman semester, knew I wanted to look at some semester programs. She told me about it and at the time that was exactly what I was looking for. I took an application and read about the semester and tracked it for the rest of the summer.”

Evans arrived in the Sierra Nevada foothills located in Northern California near Grass Valley and Nevada City on January 24th with mixed emotions.

“I was really excited to start the Semester, but I was also scared that I wouldn’t get along with any of them because I thought we would be so different.”

Evans spent the following four months at the Sierra Friends Center with five other students and three primary teachers.

“Everyone was from all over. My friend John, who we all called Stitz, was from State College, PA, while Henry was from West Virginia, and Jerry was from Brooklyn. Tatavia (Tata) was from Oakland, and Tier was from Santa Cruz.

Evans took four courses while at the Woolman Semester: World Issues, Environmental Science, Humanities and Ethics (English) and Peace Studies.

“Melody Desa, my adivisor, was also my Environmental Science teacher, Bill Henry was my World Issues teacher, and Carl Magruder was my Humanities and Ethics and Peace Studies teacher.”

“It was a lot of work, but you made it your own – lets say I had a six page paper to write. I didn’t have to write it – I could go to my teacher and ask if I could do a project instead. We just had to put in the same effort a paper would take, but we could pick the way we did it.”

Evans ended up having to write a final paper, but the other aspects of the semester academically suited her well.

“There weren’t really any quizzes or tests. And I didn’t go out there so much to learn academically as I did to experience something new. I didn’t do some work, but I was out there for the ride. I didn’t worry about my grades – I was learning about myself.”

While many schools would be upset about a student’s priorities not being on academics, Evans explained that the Woolman Semester embraced people like herself.

“They were really good about knowing and understanding that people were there to learn about themselves and the world, and not just work. Our courses were geared towards that as well as the whole feeling of the school.”

Evans explained that while there was a “classroom,” the school didn’t feel like a traditional school in that teachers’ responsibilities weren’t just limited to the classroom.

“Teachers really weren’t authority figures. I mean, in the classroom, they had to keep order, but other than that, they were really cool. Bill (my teacher) was close with all of the students – he’d hang out with us instead of the other teachers.”

On their camping trips, the feeling of friendship between everyone was enhanced.

“We’d be camping, and Stitz would be sleeping on my right, and Bill on my left. I’d wake up and think ‘Sweet, teachers! Except not!’ The teachers were more like friends; in the classroom they got their respect, but outside of the classroom they were just like us. Bill [Henry] preferred to hang out with us instead of the teachers!”

The class trips to Tijuana, Mexico, Mono Lake, and Death Valley put the classmates through some trying times.

“Those trips really showed me who my fellow students were and how they reacted to new situations. Mexico was really telling, because people acted differently to the culture down there. Some were just really disrespectful to the culture, but when we got back, everyone put their differences aside,” Evans said.

The Woolman Semester is Quaker based, so while Evans was taking a break from SSFS, she still partook in Quaker activities.

“I had to go to Meeting for Worship, and we came to a consensus when we had to make decisions,” Evans said.

Evans also learned new ways to communicate in a Quaker fashion.

“We did this thing called ‘Non-Violent Communication.’ In the beginning, we were just learning how to do it, but it became a useful part of the curriculum towards the end when we needed to use it. It helped us solve our problems in a safe and mediated environment.”

Living with all of these new people was a learning experience for Evans.

“It was like ‘The Real World: Outdoors Edition!’ Going to SSFS, I’ve been in a bubble – you think you know what’s going on outside, but you really don’t until you experience it for yourself, take it as you see it, and get your own feelings for things. We lived so close together that sometimes it was frustrating when you would want to be by yourself. That might have been one of the flaws; being with these people 24/7,” Evans said.

While Evans loved her experience out there, she was sure that she did not want to repeat the experience.

“I did some great things when I was out there, and I had an amazing experience- but it’s the kind of thing you only want to do once. I remember taking pictures at graduation and thinking that I was so ready to be done – it was so fulfilling. I may go back to be an intern, but never as a student, not because I didn’t like it, but I think I would be spoiling it if I did it again,” Evans explained.