Climbing Camelback

Travis Durfee and Dave Strom on top
of  Camelback Mountain.

I heard some pretty scary things about Camelback: 

most of them involved the potential of dehydration and death.

It was a hard hike - don't get me wrong.  But it wasn't

anything compared to being a journalism adviser. 

The nice thing about climbing the mountain was that we 

just had to put one foot in front of the other.  That was it.

It was easy compared to the work I have ahead of me.

Going home from the institute, I have twelve balls that I want

to learn how to juggle.  I want to teach students more about 

design, video, audio, writing, editing, the first amendment,

investigative journalism, news literacy, social media, and 

photography.  I want to work on staff organization and 

managing my boss.  Those are twelve things, and I know 

there are more.  And, I know they are all 

important. 

The sunset at the top of the mountain was spectacular.  It

was step after step that got us there.  So maybe I need to rethink

my approach when I go home.  Maybe integrating all that I 

learned is best done step by step; picking up another skill

as I make my way up the mountain.  The thought of getting 

all of those balls up in the air at one time - and keeping them 

there - feels daunting.  

So, one step at a time.  That's my plan.  And, I am pretty sure the 

sunset will be worth the steps.

Tracy Anderson
Community High School
Ann Arbor, Mich.