A Community Built around Coconuts
By Matt Ferland & Margaret Hayes
The hazy fire gave off a dull glow, sending sparks in crackles and pops into the night sky. Sounds that would normally be missed due to daily distractions, such as phone notifications and the hum of humanity, were brought into focus as the group sat around the flames. Loons crooned in the distance, while squirrels chittered and lake water lapped softly against the nearby shore. The moonlit sky illuminated faraway constellations, with the stars made even more clear by the reduced light pollution of the backcountry.
Just that morning, the crew of future Arcadians had set off on a week-long canoe trip from Canaras, St. Lawrence University’s great camp and conference center on Saranac Lake. The journey would serve as a pilgrimage to the Arcadia campus but would also introduce each student to the others, seeing as they had only met three days prior. With little technology, the eleven students embarking on the 2022 Adirondack Semester would have to communicate verbally more than usual to get to know each other. They had already begun to chatter in the way that a group of people who have just met often do, energetic and anxious. That night at the fire, a lot of energy came in response to a single question: “Anyone know any good games?” Thus the coconut fever began.
The coconut game was story-based, with a secret rule that the story did not matter; what really mattered was how many words were in the final question asked, something along the lines of “How many coconuts?” Soon, the one person who knew the rule grew to two, which grew to three and beyond as the story continued. After a while, the students’ timidity dissipated and their camaraderie developed. These playful games continued until the fire died down and the future Arcadians retired to their tents to get some sleep before the second day of canoeing.
The canoe trip that begins the Adirondack Semester is a ritual that every Arcadian experiences before arriving at Arcadia, the program’s yurt camp on Massawepie Lake. It serves as an introduction to outdoor living and is a chance for students to get to know their fellow classmates since they’ll be spending an intense amount of time together in the coming months. On the trip, the students are introduced to some key ideas of the semester, like living simply, in conjunction with the basics of outdoor recreation ethics, like Leave No Trace principles and recreating responsibly in a larger group.
Over the course of the week, our ragtag crew quickly grew into a cohesive troop. With the help of daily pairs of student leaders providing themes and motivation to get through long paddles and portages, we developed a group identity. Under the guidance of Will Madison and Eva Wetzel, the Assistant Directors of the program, we made our way closer to the promised land of Arcadia. Each day brought new challenges as we learned how to work with one another; we naturally moved through the stages of Group Arc that Will and Eva dubbed “forming and storming.” Paddling along the various waterways of the Adirondacks, our group grew closer and began to joke about entering the “storming” phase while acting overly dramatic or mad.
The student leaders also proved integral to shaping group culture. Two of our leaders introduced Accent Day, leading to an interesting mix of accents. British, Canadian, Irish, Western, and Valley Girl came out as we conquered one of the most difficult days of the trip. Even with a portage of over a mile in length that required two trips, spirits stayed high. Joking around with each other boosted morale, which was added to by the creation of difficult clubs based off daily activities. The Irish club formed because of the infamous Accent Day, while others such as Swimming Club also surfaced, but many others remained quite theoretical.
While paddling through the Adirondacks and getting to know one another while sitting in canoes for hours each day, we got our first glimpse of what the future may look like. We were fortunate enough to meet long-term ADK residents Jim and Michael Frenette, a father-son woodworking duo who hosted us on the last night of the trip. As we cooked dinner in their backyard, right on the Raquette River, we were entertained with stories of Jim’s influential role in developing the Adirondack Park Agency, or APA, and shaping it into the force that is today. His advocacy for the area was a key factor in why the Adirondacks has been a largely untouched and historic wilderness for many decades.
Our group came to realize what a privilege it was to be traveling across such a cool and diverse region. The terrain we came across and the beautiful starry skies we looked upon at night were a result of past efforts to protect the region from development. In fact, the sky was so clear that we couldn’t help but be reminded of one thing while star gazing: coconuts. And so it was that the stars transformed into sky coconuts as we looked at them from the land far below. It was an oasis from top to bottom.
We came to learn over the course of the trip that we are a community living within a community, “living intentionally” in Arcadia over the next few months and immersing ourselves in the natural world of the Adirondacks. As one chapter ends, the next begins. We are eleven adapting Arcadians, settling into our yurt village filled with silly jokes and games. In just over a week, we formed a strong sense of community and a bond that will be hard to break. Almost as hard as breaking a coconut.