by Michaela Hyland/Staff Writer
Every year, a group of sophomores has the opportunity to take a trip to Ecuador and stay at Siempre Verde, a property that Lovett owns. Siempre Verde is 850 acres of cloud-forest reserve.
This year, thirteen tenth graders went on the trip along with leaders Mr. Reynolds, Mrs. Mitchell, and Mr. Boswell.
After a long flight, the Lovetteers arrived in Quito, and spent the night. Then they headed to the lodge at Siempre Verde, where they came to appreciate life without electricty and learned much about the surrounding area.
They studied local wildlife. They visited a nearby town to see the headquarters of coffee company attempting to fend off a mining company while maintaining a commitment to sustainability. They visited a local school. They also managed to get in some homework. And they hiked.
“I think the highlight of the trip was definitely hiking the Arriba trail,” said Mr. Reynolds. It was the most difficult trail that they hiked.
For Liza McLain, the beauty of the place was overwhelming. “I loved waking up to the mountains all around you and the clouds swooping down low enough to be in your face,” Liza said.
In an essay about her experiences, Liza focuses on the “Green” aspect of a place whose name means Always Green.
“That word “green” has really gained a new meaning in my life,” she writes. “In the context of Siempre Verde, it means always whole. It means majestic, wonderful, miraculous. It means that it always has enough natural beauty and has such an incredible atmosphere of life that it can CHANGE lives.”
Siempre Verde represented something else for her as well: a teacher.
“This teacher can’t be found in a school or a college,” she writes. “And not everyone can find this teacher up there in the clouds either. I’m one of the lucky ones to have gotten the opportunity to go on this trip. And I’m one of the luckier ones to recognize that Siempre Verde is more than a cloud forest and a trip to a place-country-region Ecuador. And I’m the luckiest that this trip healed my heart and soul.”
On a less profound note, the students also went to the town of Otovalo where they got to practice their Spanish and bargaining, as demonstrated by Michael Glander and Mrs. Mitchell at the Siempre Verde assembly.
