Picture the end of October at the Manice Education Center: The OE staff wave goodbye as the last bus of field trip students departs for NYC, reeling from all they took in from the MEC landscape–The last of our summer veggies have been harvested for George; the golden rod, now bronzed, sweep the edges between the cut grass and wild forest edges; the chickens huddle closer together each night as the temperatures begins to dip…and then: the canvas tents come down, the yellow raincoats on the porch get counted, sorted and stored away, and the windows of the farmhouse get boarded up… inside, a once loud and lively dining hall is dark and quiet. 

Before there was the Manice Education Center in the Berkshires, there was Camp Northover in New Jersey - where generations of Christodora youth experiences the great outdoors every summer. Local historian, Ross Rapoport has been researching the history and geography of the old camp and has this dispatch to share.

In November 2024 our CORE students traveled to the Mianus River Gorge to learn about their old-growth hemlock trees and support the park through stewardship.