Will Fowkes 

As planned, my Cooke funding went directly into the growth of a library collection for our high school’s Dungeons & Dragons club, alongside the purchasing of camping equipment to take this lovely, nerdy group of boys into the woods. In my efforts to build-out the Dungeons & Dragons experience for our students, I was able to recruit interest and commitment from another teacher. Now we have three hour-long sessions of fantasy roleplay happening every week! And there has never been a stronger sense of community or excitement from our club’s rank and file.

Now, students excitedly discuss what their character might do next, in between classes. Now, students fervently debate the pros and cons of one decision over another. “Should we trust the druid Zeke Organoid to lead us through the Underdark or should we suspect him of a future betrayal?” The buy-in and the joy is tangible. “Should we take the devil Raphael’s bargain and receive the powerful gifts he promised or should we refuse his temptations, knowing that our souls are on the line?” The thrills, the inspiration, and the creative-thinking is always a delight to witness. They legitimately care about what happens, and they consider what actions they might take to change the narrative - this is a mindset that is sadly often missing in our classrooms this year. But I can report that the students who engage in D&D are frequently more collaborative, more responsive, and more positive than their peers in classroom spaces - significantly more so than was observed last year.

Through our club’s expansion, we have been able to welcome two middle-schoolers from across the street, both of whom now have a cohort of older brothers with which to grow their social skills, their confidence, and their sense of play. One of these students is autistic, and clearly benefits from the chance to dive into one of his great interests, as well as a chance to socialize in an emotionally-safe, lightly-structured space. I have seen him build his social resilience, the quality of his conversational navigation, and the appropriateness of his humor.

Our expanded library has already seen multiple books borrowed for extended periods of time, as our members try to build their understanding of the game systems, and share their joyful play with others in their lives back home. Multiple students have borrowed books to research rules, or to practice learning new skills, like how to “dungeon master” for themselves and their friends. Already, several students have created their own creative “homebrewed” stories, settings, monsters, and heroes. While my eyes might at times glaze-over as they go on excited rants about how they are building an underground string of levels, and how they are all inspired by their favorite video game, I am still delighted to see their energy - to see them get so positive and joyous about something inspired by their school community.

And the connection with nature is already taking root! On our yearly pilgrimage to a Camp Merrowvista in the Ossipee Mountains of New Hampshire, three senior students and D&D enthusiasts chose to spend their free time on a guided hike through the woods, all in order to discover their own wizard staff - a shapely dead branch of wood, strong enough to hold their wait, and beautiful enough to represent their “Crew” back at school, to be proudly mounted on the wall. This simple, joyful activity helped root our community back in its long-term partnership with Camp Merrowvista, and it helped make real the goal of our school to have an environment that is both beautiful and inspired by nature. One student has taken-up a fascination with herbalism and identifying plants because that is what his character did during our summer sessions. Another student has fallen in love with the idea of canoeing after a long session of D&D that saw the party boating down an underground river, and now we hope to plan a couple paddling sessions on the local rivers of Boston in the near future.

I have purchased four 4-person tents for our school, which will allow for our club to go off on camping trips over weekends and school breaks. On these overnights, students will continue their fantasy roleplay under a canopy of trees and stars. One of the tropes and patterns of fantasy storytelling is adventure across a wild landscape, and it is this narrative that we will harness as inspiration for true outdoor adventure. These nerdy, often-indoor boys will learn to build fires, to set-up tents, to cook their own meals, to clean their own dishes with lake water, and to “leave-no-trace” (which also happens to be a Codman tradition, rooted in our school’s origins in Outward Bound). They will learn to step outside of their comfort zones, and to build their courage for new experiences.

I can say without shame that running my D&D sessions, growing that programming, and seeing the excitement of these kids has helped me to show-up to work, physically and emotionally, even on the hardest days. Our school has gone through a lot of painful changes,  But those anxieties don’t exist during D&D - in these spaces, there is only hope and connection and a sense of pure, unadulterated joy.