By Kamryn Peace
Over the next several weeks on Saturday mornings, bright and early at 8 a.m., WA freshmen students are gathering at the Thalia N. Carlos Science Center to board the bus for a field trip. Armed with bug spray, hiking shoes and sack lunches, students take a 30 minute ride to Cochran Mill Park. The park is named after Owen Cochran, who owned and operated the mill. The mill was an operational grist mill from the late 1860s until the early 1960s, but of greater “historical” interest to some students may be that the park was used in season five of The Walking Dead.
The park comprises 800 acres of sustainable multi-use trails, a 2.5-mile interpretive trail, an information kiosk, waterfalls and a wildlife sanctuary. It’s not uncommon to see horseback riders, mountain bikers and trail runners at the park.
Laila Williams ‘27 visited the park on WA’s first trip date and on her own time. Laila shares her least and most favorite parts of the trip.
“Yes, I’ve been to Cochran Mill for summer camps when I was about 7,” Laila said. “My favorite part of the trip had to be seeing the owl. I’ve never seen one up close before. I also thought it was nice that the people at Cochran Mill rescued animals like the owl I saw. My least favorite part of the trip was getting sick after the long hike in the cold.”
Lexa Patel ‘27, who has also been on the trip, expressed how she felt about the field trip.
“My favorite part was probably seeing the animals, and my least favorite was learning about the plants [because] there was really nothing to them besides being green,” Lexa said.
Even though they’ve had mostly positive experiences at Cochran Mill, Laila and Lexa elaborate that while they wouldn’t revisit the park in their own time, they hope to go on more field trips in the future.
“No, I would not visit Cochran Mill with my friends because we don’t like to get dirty,” Laila said. “I do hope we have more field trips in the future because it’s fun going places other than the classroom. If we did have another field trip, I would want to go to either the zoo or some kind of overnight trip.”
“No, because there’s really nothing to do there besides being in the wilderness,” Lexa said. “I hope to have more field trips because you learn about things that you’ve learned in the classroom outside in real life instead of in a picture.
On the other hand, Ariana Cochran ‘27, who has never visited the park, doesn’t seem too excited about going.
“I’ve never been to Cochran Mill before,” Ariana said. “I heard that it was just a hike. I’m not excited to go [because] none of my friends are gonna be there.”
Tania Doshi ‘27, who who has yet to go on the trip, describes what she’s excited to see.
“I heard that there is a bat,” Tania said. “I’m excited to see the bat and the snake.”
Ms. Hannah Campbell, one of Woodward’s freshmen biology and environmental science teachers and a head facilitator of the trip, expresses what she hopes her students take away from the trip.
“I think students don’t really take the time to go outside as often as they probably should … and it’s nice for them to be able to actually see ecology — you know, hands-on instead of just having to talk about it,” Ms. Campbell said. “So I think it’s a unique experience that a lot of students don’t get to have. I hope that there is more of an appreciation of nature and getting the ability to see, like, a bigger picture of how things are related to each other in the forest and how we got here, in terms of starting from a bare rock and going into the massive forest around you.”
“My favorite [part] is… it’s a tie between the hike because I just enjoy the hiking and Ms. Norma’s presentation with the bat and the baby owl because they’re super cute and fluffy,” Ms. Campbell said. “My least favorite [part] is the students being very unhappy to be there at eight in the morning because I’m excited for it, and I wish they shared my excitement, but I understand they don’t want to be here that early. So I wish there was more joy going into it.”
