He'd climb out of his tent or roll out of his room in a hostel and spend the next hour exercising, running perhaps, a little strength training, maybe some ultimate Frisbee.
By 7:30, it was time for breakfast - one day a week it was Ryan's job to prepare it, along with a few others - then class by 8:15 or so. Class work lasted till noon maybe, early afternoon sometimes.
Justin Ryan used to go to Hellgate, but he spent the last semester of his senior year at a traveling high school known as the World Class Kayak Academy.
“I'd heard about the school through kayaking, and it seemed like a really nice way to finish off my senior year,” Justin said. “And it turned out to be incredible.”
But it's only incredible if you think spending several months traveling through Chile and running some of the world's most amazing whitewater is incredible. Or only if you think having world-renowned kayak instructors also serve as your math and English teachers is cool.
“It's pretty hard to get something like this in high school,” said Keith Miller, a Loyola Sacred Heart junior who spent the fall semester at World Class traveling the East Coast and New Zealand. “To have somebody like Polk Deters as your teacher is amazing.”
Deters, not exactly a common name to those outside kayaking, is a big name in the field, well-known for first descents of treacherous whitewater across the world.
Scott Doherty grew up in Missoula, where he was drawn to the outdoors.
“One of the best things was that ski program up at Marshall, where they take kids up to ski after school,” he recalled recently.
Armed with that experience, Doherty headed off to college, where he studied general sciences and literature and eventually got a master's degree in teaching. Doherty remained heavily into skiing, but also found himself drawn to kayaking, which led him to kayak instruction, which led him to a school in Vermont that served as both a high school and a path into the international world of kayaking.
“They were essentially doing what we're doing now,” said Doherty, who worked at the Vermont school with his wife, Erika Peterman. “We decided that Missoula was a great place to do something like this, so we moved ahead and got it going.”
World Class Kayak Academy started in the fall of 2001 with nine students. Most recently, the school had 14 students, three of whom are from Missoula - Justin Ryan, Philip Gordon and Keith Miller.
Most of the students are boys, and Doherty wants to keep the numbers low to make sure the school stays manageable and provides a good education.
The teacher-student ratio is 3-to-1, which creates an intimate learning experience for the students.
“For me, it was harder to get the homework done because of all the time we spent on the river,” Ryan said. “But the class time was really better than regular high school, because you have so much interaction with the teachers. In a class of five, it's pretty easy to ask all the questions you need to.”
World Class students are technically students of Alberton High School and school starts and finishes there each semester, with the students living at the nearby Tarkio River Lodge. Doherty said World Class uses Alberton's materials and abides by Missoula County standards for instruction.
“For use, it's a pretty small niche of people who can be both teachers and kayakers,” Doherty said. “I think it means you wind up with pretty exceptional people.”
Rather than straight book learning, World Class' students are part of what Doherty calls a “holistic approach” to education.
“What we strive for is academics, athletics and character,” he said. “It's very important to us that students come away feeling that they've achieved something in all those areas.”
Keith Miller is 17. When he left Montana with World Class for the East Coast, the biggest water he'd ever run was the Lochsa River, just over the border in Idaho. He spent the first part of his fall semester on the East Coast, running rivers from Canada all the way to Alabama. The Lachine rapids on the St. Lawrence River blew him away, but he also loved the Green River in North Carolina.
“The Lachine was just massive, massive rapids, with huge standing waves,” said Miller, who has excelled in other sports at Loyola and currently plays on the tennis team. “Every place had something great about it.”
Philip Gordon, a 17-year-old junior who'd previously attended Hellgate High, felt much the same. He spent both semesters with World Class, traveling to New Zealand in the fall, then to the West Coast and Chile in the winter and spring.
“Chile was just so awesome because it seemed so foreign because of the language,” Gordon said. “The rivers were just awesome. You know, you've read about them and then, there you are, right on the Futaleufu.”
The Futaleufu is one of the world's premier whitewater experiences, but it was also just another day at school for the kids from World Class.
“You know, you appreciate every place, but it's sort of overwhelming in a way, and you can forget that not everybody is getting to do this,” Miller said.
Despite their countless trips through whitewater that some might find fear-inducing, the Missoula boys said they never really felt afraid. That was, in part, due to the stellar instruction they'd already had, but also to the team concept promoted by the school.
“Everybody's really there for you,” Gordon said. “We had some swims, but it never really felt out of control because everybody has your back.”
In fact, Ryan said he was much more likely to be scared by the sketchy vans that ferried the students and instructors around the Chilean countryside.
“They were just a little bit unreliable,” Ryan said with a laugh. “We were always wondering if we were going to have to walk back.”
The overseas experience was a major part of the educational process, said Ryan, Miller and Gordon, all of whom came to the school after taking part in another Doherty kayak venture, Zoo Town Surfers.
Deep immersion in another culture, countered by the necessity of forming friendships and workable relationships with their fellow students and guides, was just as important as school work.
“I think I learned so much about managing my time and my relationships that I would never have gotten in just another year of high school,” Ryan said. “You really have to be thinking ahead to get everything done.”
Because here's the deal: If you're not up to date with your school work, or if you're performing poorly, there's no kayaking.
“That's why you're there, so everybody's working pretty hard to keep up with the school work,” Miller said. “You don't want to be stuck in camp while everyone is on the river.”
The boys all said they forged relationships that, at least for now, feel like they might last a lifetime.
“It's that thing where you're doing what you love, together with your friends,” Ryan said. “I was really surprised at how close we all got. I felt like I could open up to them and share just about anything. I think we'll be friends for a long time.”
Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com
High Water: Kayakers from the Missoula-based World Class Kayak Academy will be surfing Brennan's Wave on Friday evening after a graduation dinner in Caras Park. On Saturday, the Best in the West kayak competition commences on the Triple Bridges Rapids in the Clark Fork River's Alberton Gorge. You can watch the competition safely from the bridges above the rapids. Take special care if you decide to boat down to the rapids and watch from the bank. The gorge is running high and can be dangerous in the spring, even for experienced rafters and kayakers. For more information about the World Class Kayak Academy, go to www.world classacademy.com.
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