Willem Lange, writer, public radio commentator and host, and Emmy Award winner, visited Thetford Academy last week to film another episode of NHPBS's award-winning series "Windows to the Wild." The show will profile the student experience in the Thetford Outdoor Program (TOP), led by TOP Coordinator Scott Ellis. The mission of the Thetford Outdoor Program is to ignite academic curiosity and foster environmental stewardship through outdoor exploration, recreation and project-based, experiential learning.
Here's what Mr. Lange had to say about his campus experience:
I’ll tell you: If I could choose any public school in the country to go to or to teach at, it would be Thetford. Surrounded by 500 acres of forest traversed by world-class running and skiing trails (designed by John Morton, the Bobby Jones of trail design, who lives almost next door); a beautiful post-and-beam gathering area built by students with their design technology teacher; a sugarhouse not much bigger than a sauna (and probably just as hot when it’s running); the pleasantest faculty I’ve met in many years; the students divided into pods to minimize their general contacts, and at the moment, at least, studying outdoors in tents.
There’s no doubt this COVID-19 regime is tougher for the teachers, and possibly the students. But on this second sunshiny day of filming, it would have been hard not to imbibe the cheerful, upbeat atmosphere of the school. And I have a new bottle of Thetford Academy syrup for my pancakes!
It was a pleasure to have Mr. Lange on campus last week, and we look forward to the upcoming episode of "Windows to the Wild."
