The Odyssey Trip: Past, Present and Future

The Odyssey Trip is, in many ways, Seattle Academy’s flagship trip. It is a grade-level retreat for incoming 9th graders right out of the gates of their first month of high school. For many students, their classmates are new, their teachers are unknown, and camping is a foreign concept. This trip is famous for its predictably uncomfortable fall weather. It knowingly pushes students out of their comfort zone. It is the type of trip that generates hallway talk for the years that follow, with stories and recollections making their way into class videos, graduation speeches, and camp counselor resumes. 

The funny part is that students don’t even read Homer’s long, epic poem The Odyssey any longer — previously a reading assignment included in SAAS’s English curriculum and the original inspiration for the trip. 

The SAAS Odyssey Trip of past, present and future has evolved in many of the same ways the school has evolved since it was established in 1983. “The trip has changed every year that I have been a part of it,” says Freddy Carley, SAAS’s Director of Outdoor Trips and Travel and an alumnus of the class of 2004. Freddy is not only tasked with organizing the trip year after year, but he has also participated in the “experience and tradition of the Odyssey Trip” as a student himself in the fall of 2000. “The trip was much different back then when I was a student. It was called the ‘Lord of the Flies’ trip because that was the book students were reading at that time, and the trip was designed where students would camp away from trip leaders. And us students wouldn’t even see leaders for the two days we were out there.” 

“We were truly out there on our own,” says Freddy, noting that the Odyssey Trip of present-day involves a whole lot more faculty-student interaction and support. “I think overall the school realized it was a missed opportunity for the faculty to get to know the kids and create those relationships.” 

The lasting relationships between faculty and students, students and their classmates, are the propulsion for the trip more than the camping component itself; a compliment to getting out of the classroom and out of comfort zones. 

“It is really purposeful when we do the trip. Doing it at the start of the school year is important for students to create lasting relationships with other students. When you are out there, you are forced to get to know someone better than if you were in the classroom. I think it is important to make that connection early,” says Freddy, who is finalizing plans for this year’s Odyssey Trip on September 28-30. 

“This is also an opportunity for faculty trip leaders to get to know families. It is a natural time when families are reaching out and everyone is working towards the trip.” And the results are always worth the unexpected raindrops, forgotten gear, and uneven campground. 

“When I was on the trip, I kind of became a leader of my group. I had all of my outdoor skills and was able to share them with classmates on the Odyssey Trip,” recalls Freddy, whose trip as a student took his group into the Olympic National Park, either to Hole-in-the-Wall Beach or Rialto Beach area. “There are certainly students for whom camping for a couple nights is a big push. Then you also have students who are able to be leaders — who may not be leaders in the classroom. I think that is a special experience for them, as well.” 

Freddy is again in a position of leadership as the director and trip organizer and has been planning these grade-level trips since 2013. This year ninth graders are going to Camp Orkila on Orcus Island for one night and then shuttling to Sucia Island for one night. “The post-trip feedback from most grades is to have more time together as a whole grade,” Freddy says as he explains the thought process heading into present-day Odyssey Trip. “So students at least get the full grade-level together at Camp Orkila and then they also get small group advisory time at Sucia.” 

For future years, ideas for Odyssey Trip 2.0 are in the formulation stages. “Potentially making an opportunity for upperclassmen to attend might be a next step,” Freddy imagines. “And I think the other piece we talk about every year is whether the trip should stil be called the Odyssey Trip? Student’s don’t even read the poem anymore; that stopped a few years ago.” 

Homer’s themes remain fitting for the tradition and experiences remain as epic as ever. “Whether or not kids experience a year that was really rainy or wet, you hear kids talk about the strife they endured. But they are excited about that; excited and proud that they were able to push through. It was challenging and they pushed through, and that sense of accomplishment is lasting.” 

View more Odyssey Trip photos here