The academic year began on Sept. 3 at Friends Academy, but, by the second week, many students left the classroom behind to explore New York City, to discover some islands in Maine or to climb to incredible heights in the woods behind the campus.

During Outside the Classroom Week, Friends Academy, an independent day school in North Dartmouth, prepares students for the year ahead via lessons in teamwork. Rather than transmitting this message through a quiet indoor activity, students engage with a variety of trials.

“There are four different things that happen,” said Charley Pelissier, director of external programs at Friends Academy. “The eighth graders go to New York City, the seventh graders go to Chewonki, Maine, and the sixth graders — they’re out on our ropes course. The following week, the third, fourth and fifth graders each spend a day on our ropes course.”

The obstacle course becomes progressively complex and challenging for students as they increase in age. No matter the challenge, the overarching theme is working through problems together.

“Every single individual has to succeed in order for the group to succeed. It’s all about coming up with a plan, supporting each other and keeping each other safe,” said Pelissier.

The sixth graders will be faced with the complete challenge on the ropes course, including a section of the course inaccessible to students in lower grades called the “high elements.”

This new challenge tasks individual students with climbing high into the air and working their way across a series of suspended bridges.

Even though the students are on their own, they’re held safe by a team of belayers.

“All the years before this one, we’ve only done the low elements. We’ve never really done the high stuff. It’s really fun,” said Dylan Marshall shortly after completing the circuit.

Brooks Roach said, while the advanced course was mostly a physical challenge, it still required “mental courage.”

“The only tricky thing was your mind telling you ‘you’re high up’ and ‘don’t fall.’ Otherwise, it was easy,” said Roach.

The seventh graders of Friends departed this week for Chewonki, Maine, where they will face their own challenge: living in the wild, far away from their parents.

“They have to learn to work together. The Chewonkian leaders are there teaching them skills, and we’re there to jolly them through it,” said Mary Pierce, who teaches seventh and eighth grade science at Friends Academy.

“They canoe to an island and pitch camp. That takes a day. Then there’s two days of exploring the area. It’s a phenomenal experience,” she said.

Pierce said the eighth graders will have an urban adventure this week as they try to navigate New York City on a tight budget – and without assistance from a GPS.

There are group dynamics involved in the city trip as well. For instance, students will always visit the Museum of Natural History, but are only given three hours to see the exhibits. Because they won’t be able to see everything in the museum, the students will have to negotiate with one another.

It’s also a budgetary exercise as kids need to figure out the most cost effective way to get around the city and eat. Most of the cost of the trip comes from tuition.

“We always talk about how we’re preparing for next year’s Outside the Classroom Week, but we really are preparing them for the school year, too,” said Kyle Riseley, director of communication at Friends Academy.

“They’re learning to trust one another and to communicate better with one another, which is going to translate into the classroom,” she said.

For Pearl Mallick, after she came flying down a zip line at the end of the ropes course with the help and encouragement from her classmates, she said she learned another kind of lesson.

“Take a risk,” said Mallick. “You usually imagine bad things, but as soon as you do it, you’re proud of yourself.”