SA Fall Picnic at Wisconsin Academy traditionally includes a variety of games and relays on the ballfield, pitting class against class. This past Sunday, the Student Association found a creative replacement, canoing – equally as fun and in compliance with social distancing.
After a prayer for safety and courage for nervous first-timers, our cavalcade of canoes set off from the Sauk-Prairie canoe launch on the Wisconsin River. The weather was sunny, but not hot. As we paddled, drifted, and spiraled down river, we passed a number of sandbars and the imposing Ferry Bluff. A bald eagle circled on the warm air currents thrown up by the bluffs and a large great blue heron glided along the edge of the river. For several students, this was the first time seeing these birds in the wild.
As expected with so many inexperienced paddlers, there were a few who went in circles, or unexpectedly flipped over, but we were all wearing life jackets, and a majority of the river was fairly shallow, so most didn’t mind too much. Only a few needed help making it to the final landing six and a half miles downstream.
Just south of Honey Creek, we beached our canoes and enjoyed a snack packed by Ms. Leny and her crew before loading the bus and heading back to campus. Supper was a picnic of hot dogs and all the trimmings on the beautiful park-like lawns of center campus, a beautiful closing to a wonderful SA Picnic.
Thank you to the Student Association officers and sponsors who worked so hard to make this possible and to Hannah, who took the pictures of the canoe trip with a water-proof camera.
Enjoy the pictures!
