Thompson Island Outward Bound Outing

Sunday, October 24th. 2021 - Elevate Youth teamed up with Sibling Connections this past weekend to go on a memorable trip to one of the Boston Harbor Islands: Thompson Island Outward Bound Educational Center, which is a non-profit organization that seeks to give kids experiential learning through nature.

For those unfamiliar, Sibling Connections is a foster care service that works to reconnect siblings who have been separated within the foster care system. At Elevate Youth, we’re always really excited when we get to team up with Sibling Connections because we are all aware of the inherent depth of impact that these trips can have on the participants. 

To give you a little insight into what our day looked like out in Boston Harbor, we started off our morning with a windy ferry ride. When we arrived on the island we were greeted by Jake Dyer, a full time resident of the island and operations foreman for Thompson Island Outward Bound. Jake welcomed us to the island and gave us a quick rundown of what to expect.

Luckily, we also have our own Thompson Island expert here at Elevate Youth. Our Lead Outdoor Instructor, Nick Chertavian, actually used to work for Thompson Island Outward Bound and lived there for several seasons, so he already knew all the best spots and had a great plan for leading us around the island that day. 

When we arrived the tide was beginning to rise so we headed right over to a tidal beach area with lots of inlets to search for shells, snails, and any other small critters we could find. Once the tide had risen a little more, we made our way through some fields to a spot with a few large boats we could sit in for lunch. Throughout the rest of the day we got to explore a lot more of the island including another beach area scattered with various shades of sea glass, some cliffs over the ocean, and lookouts with great views of Boston.

Kids and adults alike were fascinated to learn that the island used to be home to a farm school for boys who had lost their parents and we were all stoked we got to explore some of the historical remnants from that time including an old graveyard and a root cellar. 

The kids played a few team building games, rolled down grassy hills, and most importantly got to spend good times hanging out with their siblings and exploring the island outdoors together! 

We ended our time on the island by meeting back up with Jake who gave us a tour of the residential area of the island which is otherwise off limits to the public. 

By that point we had walked more than 5 miles and everyone was looking forward to some snacks on the ferry ride back to Boston.

Ultimately, everyone on this trip had a great time and we are all looking forward to the next time we can get together for another trip. 

Thanks so much to Jake and Thompson Island Outward Bound for hosting us!