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Welcome to the CHOuting Club
History
The CHOuting Club was organized in 2004 by parents of Shady Hill School students in a single grade. Since then, SHS parents have expanded the CHOuting Club to provide SHS families in Grades II to VIII with an optional way for kids and parents to get together and enjoy the outdoors. In the first 8 years over 2000 participants (students, siblings, parents, faculty) went on more than 50 overnight trips.
Mission
The goal of the CHOuting Club is to provide for social and physical development of SHS students in a wide range of outdoor pursuits and environmental settings that counter the very indoor lives many children lead. The goal is also to encourage fellowship among SHS classmates and their families through the sharing of skills and ideas in the outdoors. We aim to provide a place where everyone is welcome.
The CHOuting Club is NOT a school-sponsored entity and has NO FORMAL AFFILIATION with Shady Hill School.
Philosophy
Our “Common Adventure” philosophical format is summed up with these words: egalitarian, experiential, low-cost, non-competitive, non-discriminatory, self-propelled, consensual, minimal environmental impact, and participant-initiated. This means that you are aligning yourself with a group of people to share a common adventure or joint enterprise. The CHOuting Club empowers and aids parents in organizing and executing their own outing ideas. Our basic functions are to facilitate outings by providing information, planning and resources. The all parent administrative team, leaders, and coordinators are volunteers; the more of them there are the better to decrease workload and ensure the longevity of the CHOuting Club; and any parent can initiate a trip.
