Liberal Education

I believe in a strong, expansive liberal education for my daughter. I think she ought to have a broad range of experiences, be able to relate to a vast spectrum of people, and be able to think critically within a wide field of environments and challenges. It's never too early to begin this education, and what better place to start it than at Sonlight camp? Thus, while we enjoyed the hospitality and beauty of this haven in the Rockies last month, we also took advantage of all sorts of educational opportunities.

Here Gwendolyn meets the bouldering wall. It's a good place to start, since no safety equipment is necessary. The complexity of any bouldering experience is in finding the holds. So we did just that:

The most important qualifier for whether a hold is any good is, of course, how it tastes. Our daughter, no slacker in any way, examined the run exhaustively:

Once one masters the bouldering wall, it's time to get climbing. Climbing walls trains perception, decision-making, and patience in the climber. For most of us, it also trains the ability to come back from failure and make another attempt at success. We couldn't pass up these learning opportunities for Gwendolyn, so we got her harnessed up:

Once again, you can't trust your equipment unless you examine it thoroughly first:

Once we were sure of our equipement, we were ready to climb. With capable staff to belay her, and appropriate headgear donned, we began training:

Gwendolyn, always a stickler for safety and quality control, tested the rope herself before attempting to scale the wall:

Now for those of you who haven't been to Sonlight, you must know that in 2005 we devised an excellent water balloon slingshot. This tool, which trains teamwork, control, and adaptability all at once, has become a mainstay at Sonlight. So I deemed it necessary that Gwendolyn be trained in the nuances of giant slingshot use. Not content to simply watch--and not tall enough or strong enough to actually operate the weapon--my daughter decided she needed an insider look at how these things work. All in the name of education, you understand.

With some helpful campers and staff, Gwendolyn got an up-close look at how the giant slingshot works:

After a call into Houston, we were ready for launch:

For some reason, Sara wouldn't let me post the "after touchdown" photos, but here's a great action shot. It's hard to see Gwendolyn in this one, but if you zoom in maybe you can see her sunhat, about halfway to the van:

What better place to go than Sonlight for a good liberal education? Of course, the measure of one's education is the value it has in one's life. So what did Gwendolyn think of our learning experiences at Sonlight? Well, she's not really into words yet, but I think the look says it all:

~emrys