By Valeria Benitez
With the end of school nearly here, everyone is so excited to hit the pool and tan, but not the juniors. They can’t hit the pool yet, because they first have to hit the outdoors for JOE (Junior Outdoor Expedition).
With JOE, juniors go into the woods for 3 nights and 4 days and come out as seniors. Some are excited for JOE, others are anxious, whether because they are terrified of bugs or of not showering for 3 nights.
Ms. Vernon, as well as Mr. Howell, has sent us multiple emails about Wear’ Em Wednesday, so we won’t get splinters and can break in our boots. There are rumors that if we wear our boots we’ll be able to choose one friend to be in our group or choose our leader. The keyword there is RUMORS. While you may think that you haven’t seen anyone wear their boots, you clearly haven’t seen Bridget Casey or Janey Aaronson with their boots on Wednesday.
I wanted to learn more about student anticipation, so I checked in with some juniors.
I asked Savannah Jones what she is most excited about JOE, and she immediately said, “Hopefully to get close and make new friends with people I don’t know super well in the grade, and I am also excited to just have a bonding experience with other people going into senior year.”
Lucile Beardsley is also looking forward to getting to “know people whom I don’t normally spend time with at school and haven’t had any classes with.” Beyond the social element, she’s eager to try new things and step “out of my comfort zone for a few days.”
As for concerns, Lucile said she likes nature and thinks of herself as “pretty chill.” Savannah is a little nervous about getting blisters or “that my back will hurt because that will probably make it pretty miserable.”
While Lucile and Savannah are optimistic, Lane Rodts is terrified of every aspect of JOE. Which might explain why the thing she’s most looking forward to is “Probably leaving.” (She may have been joking…a little.) Her biggest fear is that “she’s going to live till 17 and die on a mountain, and also the bugs.” She announced that she is not a bug or snake person.
Lane has also been procrastinating with the gear gathering. When I talked to her, she only had her high socks and her boots, which she had not broken in yet. Then I asked her what she would miss the most, and in her joking tone, again she said her “free will.” Bridget Valls chimed in and said, “My dry shampoo. Then Lane went on to yap about how they are not letting us bring basic hygiene products and not letting us shower, and as if it wasn’t bad enough, ”we have to poop in holes. So disgusting.”
Lane actually has had a lot of outdoor experiences; she goes to camp all summer in the mountains. She went on a Moon Dance type of trip. She said she had to live in a tent for two weeks, and it was definitely interesting, but she is more of an “AC type of person.”
I then walked into Ms. Howard’s 7th-period math class with a bunch of juniors and asked Zarin Sapra, Maddy Eford, and Luke Darsey about what excited and scared them.
Zarin started off by saying she’s excited about “My group and just bonding with more people. I’m also excited about sharing an experience with people and bonding with everyone.” It seems like it’s a common pattern for everyone to be excited about their groups.
She then told me she is scared she won’t be prepared enough or won’t have enough stuff. “I don’t have my backpack or anything,” she said. Hopefully, her hiking in Colorado, which she told me about, will pay off, as she had to spend the night in the woods.
Maddy added how she went to a sleepaway camp in the woods, “and we hiked A LOT, but I don’t think it was as serious as JOE.
I asked Luke what excited him the most about JOE, and at first he looked a little confused, and then he just said, “Oh, I’m not going.” Zarin looked at him, even more confused, and said, “Yes, you are, everyone goes.” But not for him or the rest of the baseball team, because they have playoffs during JOE. I guess that is one way of getting out of JOE.
In APUSH, I spoke with Copeland Stukes and Yehia Hamza to ask them about their overall feelings toward JOE. With a little hesitation, Copeland said, “I am excited to just hang out with my friends and just be in nature.” For those of you who don’t know him, he loves nature and made his whole AMSTUD project on a photo essay on the Chattahoochee River, so he will definitely thrive at JOE.
Yehia exclaimed, “I just want to embrace nature and have time off school to connect with my friends.” After a long junior year, the time off from school will definitely be very appreciated.
Finally, I got the chance to speak with Mrs. Vernon, who has been prepping for JOE, alongside Mr. Greenberg.
Mrs. Vernon told me that they start planning in June or July the year before. ”Almost as soon as we get back, we clean everything, we pack it all away, and then we start brainstorming about what we can do differently, what worked, etc.,” she said.
I was curious about how they get so many leaders willing to spend 3 nights in the wilderness. She said anybody who wants to come can come.
She noted how the numbers are different every year because many have family obligations or random injuries, but there is always a core group with Coach Brentzel, this being her 7th JOE, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Reynolds, and Mr. Greenberg, who go very often.
Something you may not know is about the luxurious JOETEL (or at least more luxurious than spending your nights in a tent). Mrs. Vernon told me that it’s a hotel where staff are able to communicate with the JOE leaders each morning. Ms. Armato always texts a good morning with a sunshine emoji and an encouraging message or just “a really sweet message.”
The JOETEL faculty are usually there to hike into the woods to bring people more gear or grab a kid who’s sick or injured.
If you have seen the famous Instagram posts of all the juniors looking like they came out of war on the last day of JOE with their JOE shirts, then give that credit to Mrs. Vernon. She told me how she designs two different t-shirts, one for the leaders and one for the rising seniors. “It is definitely one of my favorite JOE prep things to do,” she said.
For many, going away in the woods and just being away from home might not sound great, but Mrs. Vernon said it is one of her favorite things about JOE. She told me that, as much as she loves her daughters, “It’s really nice to like not be a mom for a minute.” She also enjoys getting to meet new juniors and having extra people to hug at closing chapel. “I knew two kids in my group of 14, and I got to meet 12 new juniors,” she said, which is great because she doesn’t usually teach juniors.
If you are worried about having to wake up early, don’t worry too much if you are in Mrs. Vernon’s group because she’s “a big fan of letting people sleep if they want to sleep.” She did note t that three years ago, Wright Williams would not get up and everyone was packing and he was still dead asleep, so that was really the only time she’s had to wake someone up.
Whether juniors are excited, terrified, or somewhere in between, JOE is almost here, so you’d better get over those fears. Hopefully, everyone comes back with new friendships and only a reasonable number of blisters (so break in your boots!). And if not, at least senior year starts right after.
