Essex, New York Guide and Community Blog
In the eyes of so many people, we are defined by the employment that we hold and for the past 4 years, most of the community has seen me as the Director at Pok-O-MacCready Outdoor Education Center. I proudly wore this title and did my best to compliment the center’s academic programs with community programs [...]
“5 weeks is a long time, and it has been that long since I last checked in from the front lines of Pok-O-MacCready. Those 5 weeks have been chock full. Teaching at Pok-O-MacCready Nine schools came to Pok-O for day and multi-day trips in the short 15 days of June that we are open for [...]
“Memorial Day weekend always is the beginning of the end for the PMOEC spring season. The Adirondack Scholarship group comes to Pok-O-MacCready over the weekend and hosts a fundraiser that jointly benefits summer camp and the outdoor ed center. Its a great gathering of the old camp family and the new PMOEC crew and, collectively, [...]
“There is an eerie calm at Pok-O these days. Only 15 kids are onsite right now and a day group with a great history with us will be arriving later this morning. The staff has hit their stride for the spring and the weather has done nothing but agree with us for the past [...]
The Champlain Area Trails Travel Writing Contest entry, “Falling in Love” is not the story of a romance between two people, but two people falling in love with the Champlain Valley. Jean McMahon and her husband vacationed in Willsboro upon hearing advice that this area of the Adirondacks was a beautiful ‘undiscovered jewel.’ After only one visit [...]
“Thunderstorms came. Yesterday, another notch on the post of ‘what defines spring’ was violently slashed as lightning dotted the turbulent skies in the middle of the afternoon. As we began our afternoon activities, we heard the first rumblings and quickly acted switching one group’s class and altering three others. Of course, this is not a [...]
“It’s our last week of work project days for the spring season. Starting Monday we have day and overnight groups every weekday for the remainder of the season- and some weekends! But this week, we are focusing on animals and cleaning and preparing for the rest of the season. There are a couple of notable [...]
“This past week was our busiest of the early season at PMOEC and, thus, I was able to spend more time with kids than I normally do. While the kids were the focus, there was no denying the beauty of spring creeping into our acreage. Walking up to the sensory course, the students and I [...]
“We are in the midst of the type of week that we always want to have at PMOEC. On Monday we had a group of French Canadian students come for 5 days. The school is Seminaire St. Marie and they come twice every year. This group is making their first trip to our center and [...]
“Yes, I know; I missed a week. I am sure one of you are disappointed. But, the spring season was dropped into 4th gear, as it always is, on day one. The entire instructing staff and Krista spent a few days in the woods last week bonding, eating, hiking and getting to know each other [...]
