Bapst students return from Sweden Youths explore geology, culture on 2-week hiking, climbing expedition

They feasted on cloud berries, gazed from mountaintops at glaciers and made friends with a reindeer.

Last month’s trip to Sweden was indeed amazing, said students from John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor who participated in a two-week hiking and mountain-climbing expedition.

Their trip took them through the northern province of Jamtland, where they examined the area’s glacial geology and plant life, and studied the Sami, the indigenous people of the area.

Accompanying them was social studies teacher Mark Tasker, who lived and studied in Sweden years ago. Also traveling with the group was Debbie Eustis-Grandy of New Sweden, a former biology and environmental science teacher at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone, where Tasker previously taught.

Some of the 10 students who made the trip gathered in a classroom after school recently, happy to reminisce about their memorable excursion that is planned to become an annual event at Bapst.

“It was great to see a different lifestyle and culture,” said Kyle Ferrill, a senior from Clifton.

“The scenery was incredible,” said Ryan Lena, a junior from Orono.

Hiking 11 miles a day, students traversed ridged plains and glaciated valleys. They climbed four mountains – the highest was 5,814 feet.

The intrepid travelers stayed overnight at “rest stations,” similar to hostels, where they bought food and prepared meals alongside Swedes. “It was way off the beaten path for American tourists,” said Tasker.

The nightly routine offered students a chance to become immersed in the Swedish language as they read food labels and recipes and conversed with other guests, he said.

Students also spent four days with host families in Umea, a city of about 110,000 in northern Sweden. There, they biked along the river and took advantage of the city’s efficient public transportation system.

They also visited Dragoon School, which has agreed to participate in an exchange program with Bapst. In October and May, 20 students and two teachers will visit the Bangor school and stay with area families.

Students recounted the fun they had sliding down a huge patch of snow that saved them an hour’s trek, playing Frisbee atop the mountain peaks, gathering nightly to catch the spectacular sunset and trying in vain to distract a curious reindeer that took a liking to Anna DeLong and insisted on following her back to camp.

When the group hiked across the Swedish border to Norway, DeLong, a sophomore from Blue Hill, found special meaning.

“Part of the motivation for going on the trip was to get back to my roots,” said the young woman, who is of Norwegian descent.

Everyone looked forward each morning to oatmeal with cloud berries, a fruit that looks like a raspberry and tastes like an orange. It was “very, very yummy,” said Lena.

The luncheon fare of reindeer and moose sausage was “really good, too,” said Megan Pritham, a junior from Bangor.

Also traveling with the group were Sam Swanto, a sophomore from Holden; Denise Miller, a junior from Clifton; Brian Roach, a senior from Holden; Elizabeth Lutz, a senior from Old Town; Katie Andrle, a senior from Clifton; and Chris Leach, a sophomore from Castine.

For Tasker, the educational opportunity was unparalleled. Jamtland is the perfect place to introduce students to geography because “there’s nothing subtle about the landscape,” he said.

“We asked the kids in kind of a forensic sense to figure out how everything got here. We made use of literally hundreds of teachable moments. We’d be standing somewhere and once we got over being blown away by the initial impression, we’d start talking about what explains the massive plains and the enormous boulders, why the moraines and valleys are shaped this way, and what was the climate doing to produce this. We tried to sort out how many glaciers went through.”

Reached by phone on Saturday, Eustis-Grandy said her objective was to have the students “appreciate the tremendous plant diversity, even though they’re above the tree line.”

She also talked with them about how plants manage to adapt to a cold, windy environment and how they can be a clue to the amount of snow an area receives.

Tasker praised students for their stalwart style. Even with backpacks, the young people walked more than 3 mph, “faster than most people walk through the Bangor Mall,” he said.

The teacher said he hoped the trip would spur some of them to choose a career in natural sciences.

But no matter what the students gained from their experience, Tasker said, he’s counting on them telling their grandchildren about it.

“I think they will,” he said.