Last summer, Jonathan Jarutat hiked across the Alps from Oberstdorf, Germany through Austria to Merano, Italy. For his Grade 10 Personal Project, he wrote a hiking guidebook to guide others through the E5 hiking trail in 8 days. The guidebook is one of the few available in English for this trail and also one of the most current ones that you can find. The guide begins with a quote from influential German writer Goethe: “The only places you truly visited are the places you visited on foot”.
Jonathan’s mother had dreamed of crossing the Alps for a long time, and “she enlisted me because she didn’t want to do it alone. Spending a week away from the rest of our family was a challenge for us, but we both actually enjoyed spending time away from our regular life. Though we love spending most of our free time at home, we found out that we really like being active in the mountains, out of our cozy comfort zone”.
For Jonathan’s Grade 10 Personal Project, he created an in-depth hiking guidebook of the route. “We modified the hike to 8 days rather than 6 as the official guidebook states. The first half of the book is the preparations that need to happen before your trip and the second half of the book is the trail itself. The book includes stunning photos from their trip, tips for inexperienced hikers, where to stay, where to eat, emergency information, and color-coded trail difficulty indicators. Essentially, Jonathan and his mother did all the research and hard work of planning the trip for you.
While discussing the outcomes of the trip, Jonathan “realized while hiking, that being surrounded by people all the time in our daily life can be very stressful. Spending time for yourself can help you calm down and get back to who you really want to be.”
On day 7 at about 3,200 meters high, at the Ötzi Memorial where the Iceman was found, was the point where “I felt like I had done it. There was still another day of hiking to go, but it is just an enjoyable day. Anyone with a fitness level slightly above the average can do this hike. It might look intimidating; but once you look at the distances per day, it’s very reasonable. After the first day, you will feel more confident. Just go for it.”
Reflecting MIS’s mission to nurture, challenge, and inspire each student on their own path, Jonathan is the kind of person who will conquer a challenge and then create a unique solution to nurture others through that same challenge.