clarion.brevard.edu
Volume 83, Issue 13 Web Edition SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935
Thursday, 8:30 g.m.
@ the President's House
November 29, 2017
Fall 2017 Immersion team returns
After a successful three weeks in the woods
By Jessica Wiegandt
Arts and Life Editor
On Monday, Nov. 20, the fall 2017 Immersion
team returned to the Brevard College campus,
completing their 21-day expedition. The team
of 10 upperclassmen and two instructors, Clyde
Carter and David Lackey, left on Oct. 31 and
over the course of the expedition went climbing,
backpacking and canoeing.
“For the most part we stuck to our plans,”
Taylor Everard, the expedition plan leader, said,
“The challenges we had with the weather and
ecosystem weren’t too bad. We weren’t running
from fires like other Immersion groups or any
thing, but there was a moment in time during our
backpacking trip where we rerouted.”
The reroute occurred because the original plan
to sleep on top of a ridgeline was going to ex
pose the team to cold and harsh weather. “A few
people in the group had the foresight to not be
stuck on the ridgeline in such difficult weather,
so they created an alternate plan,” Everard said.
The team instead summited Mt. Mitchell as a
day-hike and camp at a lower elevation instead
of routing the trip up Mt. Mitchell and camp on
a ridgeline, as the team had initially planned.
The reroute during the backpacking trip was
the only portion that changed in the route plan,
however Everard said the most difficulty dur
ing the expedition came from handling group
dynamic disputes.
“Other Immersions, from what I can perceive,
their biggest challenges were external,” Everard
said, “And ours were more internal, which isn’t
a bad thing it was just how we worked together.”
Everard said the biggest challenges were faced
when the team was working on making a deci
sion. “There was a lot of indecision, so it took a
long time to come to a conclusion everyone was
at least going to accept,” Everard said.
The Immersion team poses at the top of Mt. Mitchell on their 21-day excursion. Back row (from left): Cody
Nelson, Casey Whitmire, Bryce Kinsey, Beau Owen, Peyton Mooney, Sam Munson, Michael Lowry. Front
row (from left): Taylor Everard, Gabe Neckolaishen.
There were three evacuations that occurred
during the trip. The injuries were not serious but
would heal faster at home instead of treating the
injuries in the field.
“Being able to experience the Linville Gorge
was a highlight,” Everard said, “We got to do a
multi-pitch [climb] there and it was just beauti
ful to look out at the top of the climb, several
hundred feet in the air, in peak leaf season. You
can’t get that in a photograph.”
After climbing, the team backpacked for 13
days, eight of which they didn’t see the sun. Eve
rard said it rained or was extremely cloudy for
about a week straight while they were backpack
ing, which made it difficult to keep high spirits.
“Everything was damp and grungy but it was
accomplishing,” Everard said, “Some of the
people in the group were challenged physi
cally, some mentally, it was difficult for us all.
It made me realize ‘Wow, this is backpacking,’
because we all had heavy packs on our back,
all of us were being challenged and I thought it
was really cool.”
Now the team has been home for over a week
and they each are adjusting to living away from
the back country life.
“My sleep schedule is pretty hardwired. I find
myself having difficulty to stay up past nine and
I wake up at seven in the morning at the latest,”
Everard said. “On the day we came back, I went
to the caf and that was pretty weird too. There
was a lot of noise bouncing around and it was so
loud, my senses all felt claustrophobic.”
The team will spend the final two weeks of
class debriefing the expedition, covering moun
tain biking for a couple days and taking a trip to
the Congaree swamp.
“One thing I find really important during this
semester is the emphasis on reflection,” Everard
said, “You spend this semester with these 10
people and you have focus a lot of energy on
developing your leadership style in a positive
way by reflecting on your time spent in the field
and what you have done in your group.”