TERREBONNE —

There are many ways to inspire students to write, but most schools wouldn’t consider rock climbing an option. Skyline High School is not like most schools.

Three times last week, about 20 students from the Bend-La Pine school district’s new choice-option high school spent their day at Smith Rock State Park, climbing in areas such as Northern Point, Rope-De-Dope and Monument. Principal Mike Franklin said one of the main purposes of the excursions is to give his students inspiration for poems and essays.

“A lot of times, in a traditional English class, students are asked to write a poem about something, and they’re like, ‘Well, I don’t really have experiences to write about,’” he said Thursday morning at Smith Rock. “We had a writing workshop yesterday, and the same kids who would normally be like, ‘I don’t know what to write,’ were writing all day long because they had these experiences that were so inspiring.”

Skyline English teacher Robert Wooldridge agreed.

“Any time you’re pushing your limits and just being out in nature and learning new things, that gives you a topic to write about,” he said.

The students at Smith Rock participated in three practice sessions at Bend Rock Gym in the past month before testing their skills on the real deal in Terrebonne, according to Franklin.

American Mountain Guides Association-certified climbing guides from the gym were present at Smith Rock, helping to keep the students safe as they scaled the cliffs. One of those guides, Ross Morrison, said he loved the class because it helped the students gain the skills they needed to overcome challenges in their life.

“You present them with a challenge and let them push themselves out of their comfort zone to achieve or at least go toward that challenge,” he said. “You let them know that things may seem impossible or extremely difficult, and they tell themselves they might not be able to do it, but once they get going and have that right mindset, they can achieve whatever they need to.”

Ninth-grader Ciana Dearing, 14, swore she would never climb up the Monument wall, according to Wooldridge. But on Thursday, she scaled it and called the experience “awesome.” Fellow ninth-grader Josi Jones, 14, quipped that she wasn’t able to make it all the way up to the 30-meter anchor, but Morrison said, “It’s not about getting to the top. It’s about pushing yourself.”

Jones said she was happy she joined the rock-climbing crew.

“It was weird because it’s not something I do a lot, but it was fun,” she said. “I just didn’t want to stay in school all day.”

The rock climbing course, or Rock and Reflection, is one of three options Skyline students could choose for their intersessions week. Students used their climbing experiences in a series of essays and poems, and the entries will be compiled into a literary journal.

The other two options included a science-focused exploration of the Deschutes River and a digital storytelling class, in which students create their own short films. A few students in the latter group were filming the rock climbers on Thursday, including sophomore Yewan Fitz-Earle, 15.

“I already climb a lot, and I wanted to try seeing climbing through a different angle,” he said. “I like filming, and I’ve definitely learned a few things about doing cool shots.”

The purpose of these week-long courses is to use real experiences to help teach, rather than having students sit and listen to lectures, Franklin said.

“We believe in real-world challenges, real-world problems and interdisciplinary learning,” he said. “We believe that a sterile classroom is not usually the best environment to inspire learning.”

Skyline will host its first Student Showcase night from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday at its Brinson Boulevard campus, which will display the various projects students created.

Beyond the writing, Wooldridge said he hopes students come away from the climbing experience with a heightened sense of confidence.

“There’s a lot of nervousness, a lot of fear. There still is to some degree, but everybody has gotten a little more comfortable and a little better,” he said. “And I think every person here has done things that they didn’t think they would do.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7854, jhogan@bendbulletin.com