AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Anyone who has broken school rules has probably spent some time in detention, you know, a few hours stuck in a classroom monitored by a teacher who doesn't want to be there either. But one counselor at Morse High School in Maine is taking students out into nature instead. Maine Public's Madi Smith tagged along on one of the last hikes of the year.
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MADI SMITH, BYLINE: It's a sunny, almost 70-degree day, and counselor at Morse High School Leslie Trundy stops in front of a trail map in Bath, Maine.
LESLIE TRUNDY: We're right here. And so we're going to follow the Whiskeag Trail, and we're going to go through the cemetery.
SMITH: She explains the route that her seven students will follow for the next two hours.
TRUNDY: We kind of take a side shoot here, so we make a loop. But we'll come back along the river and then we'll come back. We should be back by 4 to the school.
SMITH: The students are serving detention for an array of infractions.
NICHOLAS TANGUAY: I yelled at a teacher rudely 'cause I didn't feel like doing something, and when they tried to make me do it, I got angry and yelled at them.
ELSIE NELSON-WALLING: Probably, like, skipping class or, like, added up tardies from class. Like, never, like, actually, like, getting in trouble, trouble.
WYATT WELLS: Playing video games in my teacher's class, and she got mad at me. And I found that one stupid, so I was like, I'm not sitting in a classroom for that.
SMITH: Nicholas Tanguay, Elsie Nelson-Walling and Wyatt Wells have all joined multiple detention hikes this year. Trundy began the program after attending an outdoor education conference. She wondered whether spending time outdoors might encourage the kids to open up about the problems they might be experiencing.
TRUNDY: My hope was that time in the woods, like, I could sort of take the skills that I have on the road with them, or on the trail, and be a listener for them and pay back the time to the school and sort of serve their consequence but also receive more care and attention.
SMITH: Trundy says some parents have refused to let their kids take part, and says she's fielded some criticism from those who don't believe that a walk in the woods is enough punishment for making poor choices. But Trundy says that isn't necessarily the case for those that choose to hike.
TRUNDY: Sometimes the hike feels really like a punishment for them, even though they've chosen it. Like, they might've chosen it 'cause it was a lessening sentence, but it did feel like they were having to expend effort.
NICHOLAS: No, this right here.
SMITH: Freshman Nicholas Tanguay says that expended effort is good for his mental health. And he dreads detention less knowing he gets to hike instead of just sitting in a classroom.
NICHOLAS: It makes me have to, like, walk. It makes you breathe heavily, obviously. And it feels like an accomplishment almost.
SMITH: At the end of the 3 1/2-mile hike, the students grab their backpacks and head home. Trundy says she intends to start up the optional hike program again next school year.
TRUNDY: I'm so curious if some of the freshmen that I've started hiking with this year, are they still hiking with me when they're seniors on detention, or are they hiking in outing club? Like, these students could - I see this leadership potential in a lot of them.
SMITH: Trundy says she invites students to join the outdoor outing club every hike. And at least three students have joined after going on a detention hike this year.
For NPR News, I'm Madi Smith in Bath, Maine.
(SOUNDBITE OF KACEY MUSGRAVES SONG, "SLOW BURN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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