Mountain Day is one of, if not, the oldest tradition at The Beech Hill School. While there are many lessons that are learned on the mountain each year, nothing provides the opportunity to experience perseverance like climbing a mountain. In Beech Hill School’s founding year, the small group of students and faculty that started the school summitted Cardigan Mountain in a freezing rain that was coming down sideways because of the harsh wind. Despite the conditions, everyone made it to the top and back down safely. After that year, we learned to schedule Mountain Day earlier in the calendar, as that experience was quite extreme.

In the following years, we faced a variety of challenges, like the year that we had to postpone Mountain Day because of a hurricane. Even COVID did not get in the way of Mountain Day, as that year, we hiked Pat’s Peak, in masks. Whatever the challenge, we have found a way to make sure our students can get out in nature and can challenge themselves.

This year, we had a tremendous hike up Mount Major. For many of our students, this was a serious challenge, and they all made it. As the year continues, the ability to stick with it, putting one foot in front of the other, will serve as a great reminder to our students that they can do hard things.