What We Carry: Lessons from 40 Years of Junior Four Point
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Many things have changed over the past forty years, but Junior Four Point at Gould Academy is not one of them. We now carry tiny computers in our pockets that run our lives, get directions from satellites, and ask virtual assistants to answer our questions. Still, every March, like clockwork, Gould Academy eleventh graders strap on their issued snowshoes and backpacks and trek into the mountains of Western Maine and the White Mountain National Forest for a nine-day, eight-night winter camping expedition. The packs and snowshoes have improved a little over the years, and we now have protocols for emergency communication that weren’t in place in the 80s and 90s, but otherwise, the trips have mostly remained the same. It’s nine days away from technology in the students’ pockets. Nine days away from academic pressure and fully-packed daily schedules. Nine days that will change their lives.
Outward Bound Origins
Junior Four Point is the brainchild of Bill Clough, Gould’s Head of School from the fall of 1983 until the spring of 2001. He had implemented a similar program at Holderness School after completing a six-week Outward Bound trip as a public school teacher in New Hampshire years earlier. He knew the Gould community needed an annual “jolt of energy” after a long winter and before a muddy spring.
“It grew organically. People lose elasticity as the year goes on,” said Bill. “I think of it as being frozen in time, and we were looking for an antidote to that.”
He discovered that many of the Gould faculty already had ties to Outward Bound and had existing relationships with several experienced Outward Bound instructors who made their home in Bethel—people like Jeff Parsons P’00, ’01, ’06, ’08 at Outdoor Adventure and Campground, and Jonathan Goldberg P’12,’15 from True North Adventureware.
“We had the right people and the right place. The woods are a natural environment here,” said Bill, discussing the program’s early days. “We went to see L.L. Bean, and they helped us greatly. Suddenly, we had a full complement of solid gear to take into the woods. We had the people, we had the climate. Everything just sort of fell together.”
It “fell together” because the pieces were in place, and it was a perfect fit for the school. L.L. Bean generously outfitted the school with gear at cost, and Gould contracted with Outward Bound to help lead the trips. Each group was accompanied by two trip leaders—one from Outward Bound, the other a Gould faculty member.
A Four Point crew marches uphill in Grafton Notch, 2025.
Outward Bound had a distinct approach. Here’s your gear—now figure it out. They dropped students into the experience with minimal instruction, believing that struggle leads to personal growth. That mentality changed over time as full ownership of the program shifted to the Gould faculty.
“In this type of weather, we felt it was important to teach them the skills once you got out in the field, and not let them flounder. We wanted the kids to have a quality experience,” says former Four Point Program Director Lorenzo Baker P’05. Lorenzo, an avid hiker and rock climber, came to Gould with a background in outdoor education from the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and was already running outdoor programming as Gould’s Director of Student Activities. He and many faculty members were eager to oversee and shape this new winter camping adventure.
“Bill [Clough] knew that if you give kids the right equipment and put them out in these conditions, they’re going to grow,” says Lorenzo. “They’re going to learn about themselves, and they’re going to learn how to work in a group.”
Former Gould English Teacher Bonnie Pooley P’83 led Junior Four Point trips for 22 years, was there from the beginning, and watched the program mature over those first years.
“We felt our timing in winter was essential to the program because it’s the most challenging time of the year and does not allow you to make [too many] mistakes,” says Bonnie. “You will lose your boots if you leave them out and it snows a foot. There were always weather challenges, and you never knew what they would be, but once you’re out there with the right equipment, it doesn’t matter what the weather throws at you; you can cope with it. And we did, every time.”
From these beginnings, a unique experience evolved. One that maintained those rigorous outdoor learning elements while blending in Gould’s character and values. It grew from a winter camping trip into a rite of passage.
“Once we took it over from Outward Bound and started running it ourselves, we started thinking, ‘Okay, this is great. What else can we add?” says Lorenzo. “We can have kids write themselves a letter during their solo that we send to them their freshman year in college.” Gould continued to find new ways to improve its one-of-a-kind program, making it as transformative and special as possible.
Bonnie Pooley on her twenty-second Junior Four Point trip in 2008
Getting Off the Bus
On the first morning of Junior Four Point, students report to Farnsworth Fieldhouse, where their packs are waiting for them in a circle. They are sorted into groups and discover who their companions and leaders will be for the first time. After packing and thoroughly preparing, students are loaded onto a Gould activity van and transported to their unknown trailhead. As the bus pulls away, leaving them on the side of the road in a remote location, it sinks in: this is happening.
“Once you get off that bus and you head off into the [wilderness] with nine or ten classmates and two faculty, students are creating a new space and new relationships,” says Bill. “They have to construct a new set of rules, and they have to do it together.”
IF THEY CIRCLE UP, AS WE ALWAYS SAID, AND TALK THINGS THROUGH, THEY WILL COME UP WITH A SOLUTION THAT WORKS. Bonnie Pooley P’83, Former Gould English Teacher and Trip Leader
With nine days of supplies on their backs and in sleds, they establish their initial roles. Navigators plot a course and break trail. The first day is clunky. Finding their snow legs takes time, as does traveling as a group. Maintaining balance while carrying a seventy-plus-pound pack on snowshoes is a skill they learn on the job. Tying a tight ridgeline for a shelter and building a fire to cook over from wet branches on the ground isn’t as easy as it sounds. At first, everything takes extra time, and the firewood never goes as far as they think it will. If the students don’t want to wake up cold in the morning and collect more, they had better stack enough for two meals in the evening before the sun goes down. It’s cold, but the juniors report that they have never slept so soundly.
The groups develop a new rhythm. Tearing down camp, leaving no trace, hiking all day, dragging sleds full of gear and food, and then setting up camp in a new spot becomes the daily routine. Students devour as many calories as they can by frying bagels in butter. The packs get lighter, and the taste of smoky water purified over a campfire becomes normal.
The juniors do this all while handling whatever Mother Nature throws their way.
“The worst is rain. I’ll take cold weather any day, but the worst is rain,” laments Lorenzo. “Lauren Head P’01, ’05, ’07, ’09, ’21 and I led a trip one year, and it rained every day. Every day, we’d wake up and set up a tent just to eat in. We couldn’t get fires going because the rain had frozen a half-inch thick on all of the wood. We completed the whole course, but I’ve never been so soaked in my whole life.”
Every year is different. Bonnie remembers a girls’ trip with Bill Clough, hit by a significant Nor’easter mid-week at a high elevation. “Do you think they realize the storm will bury them by morning?” Bonnie remembers asking Bill around midnight of their sleeping campers. Sure enough, with tarps sagging under the heavy weight of accumulating snow, the girls took turns digging out their shelters all night. When no one else will do it for you, you learn to take care of the group.
“I want kids to come out of a Four Point experience knowing they can work together in a group, no matter the challenge,” adds Bonnie. “If they circle up, as we always said, and talk things through, they will come up with a solution that works.”
Stories like these are not uncommon. Every year, new combinations of students, leaders, conditions, and terrain turn out a brand new batch of Gould lore—another log on the pile.
Solo, A Time for Reflection
Solo is a powerful piece of the Junior Four Point experience that increases the overall impact. Typically, it’s later in the trip, and it’s intended to be a pause and a time to contemplate the journey so far. Twenty-four hours alone. Juniors build a shelter, fire, and prepare their food. Without a destination, students have time to rest and reflect.
“Solo is something that some students dread, but it’s a chance for juniors to take a hard look and learn more about themselves,” says Bonnie. “They’re about to apply to colleges. Here’s a great opportunity to look at yourself really hard, even if you don’t always like what you see.”
THERE IS NO BETTER WAY TO DISCOVER ONE’S INNER STRENGTH AND THE CAPACITY TO WORK TOGETHER WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES GET CHALLENGING. JUNIOR FOUR POINT WAS ONE OF THE BEST LESSONS OF MY LIFE. – Anne Jurgeleit ’92
After 24 hours, the trip leaders bring the kids back one at a time to circle up. The group sits in silence until everyone has returned to base camp.
“At that point, each student tells the story of their solo,” says Bonnie. “For many, this is the most powerful time of the trip. They proved to themselves that they could do that.”
Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof
At the end of the trip, it’s not about survival. It’s wonderful that students can now tie a bowline and a trucker’s hitch with the best of them. After the trip, juniors can plot an off-trail course through the wilderness with a map and compass in their sleep. Cooking pasta over an open fire is something they’ll never forget, but the real takeaways are less tangible.
“This is not about becoming an outdoor leader. It’s about being a part of a group and something bigger than yourself,” says Director of Experiential Learning Chris Hayward P’16, ’19, who has been leading outdoor expeditions since 1995. “What I want students to take away from this experience is going into the unknown, taking on something new, and learning that they can do it. In the future, someone will ask them to do something challenging. And I hope that they reflect on their Junior Four Point experience and say, ‘Yes, I know I can do hard things because I’ve already done it.’”
Students return to the field house on that last day with huge smiles, not because it ended or because they are ready to take their first warm showers in nine days, but because they accomplished something extremely challenging. (Although we hear those showers are pretty awesome.)
“You see it every year when groups return to the field house,” says Lorenzo. “[Former Trip Leader and Faculty] Pete Hedden P’25, ’28 used to say they’re ‘ten feet tall and bulletproof.’ They have accomplished something that they couldn’t fathom. And it’s a part of them; it’s a part of their core. It’s something that they lean on.”
Four Point 2018 with trip leaders Dave Lynch, Billy Ayotte, and Aramy Cho
Forty Years of Tradition
Over the last forty years, Junior Four Point has given Gould students something they will carry long after they empty their packs. A self-confidence they can lean on, an unmatched connection to their classmates, and an understanding that they can navigate anything life throws at them.
Many students carry the lessons of Junior Four Point into adulthood, and for some, it has shaped their careers.
“The Four Point program over the last 40 years has produced environmentalists who have gone through college with that major and are now doing important work, outdoor educators and adventurers,” points out Bonnie. “Lauren Jacobs ’03 heads up Outdoor Learning for the University of Maine. She was in my group and is now an important environmental leader. Paul Koubek ’90 is now an international mountain guide. Four Point started him on a long, incredible life journey.” Junior Four Point has shaped more than the student body over those years; it’s helped shape the school.
“Four Point changed my life. You want it to change the kids’ lives, of course, but it changed my life,” says Bonnie. “I became an environmentalist, an outdoor person, and an Outward Bound instructor. All of those things started with Four Point. It’s made a huge difference in my life.”
It changed the lives of the leaders, and it also attracted educators to the school.
“It is one of the things that drew me to Gould. It’s how I want to live my life,” says Chris, who feels fortunate to carry on the program today and guide it into the future.
“Lorenzo Baker, Nancy Eaton, John Wight, Mac Davis, Bonnie Pooley, are all people I consider mentors and still connect with today. I am so lucky to be able to run this program. It’s a lot of responsibility to live up to what has happened for the past 40 years and keep it going. It’s clear you have a gem when something lasts 40 years, and we keep doing it because we know how much the kids are benefiting from it.” ◼