Not every lesson begins with a bell. Some start with the sound of bare feet on concrete floors, some with a stumble on a mountain path and some arrive disguised as disappointment.
But each one leaves a mark that no classroom wall can contain.
When students across the country stepped out of academic structures — whether through treks, travel, volunteering or personal upheavals — they often found something deeper than grades — perspective.
For Tamanna Agarwal, a Class IX student of La Martiniere for Girls, it began with a trip to Hatgachia Primary School, where she went to teach dance. What she imagined would be a fun, easy interaction turned unexpectedly emotional. She was struck by how the students, dancing barefoot in a mirrorless room, embraced movement not as performance but as joy. They didn’t ask for steps — they asked when she’d come again.
“They just started dancing out of pure joy. When they asked me when I would come again, I realised it wasn’t about teaching steps, but the connection we built,” she said. That single afternoon shifted something within her. Gratitude, she said, came not from being thanked but from simply being present.
Sometimes, that presence — of mind, of self — is challenged in more complicated ways. Mahroz Yakhsha, now in Class X at The Newtown School, recalled her early days after moving to North Carolina from Calcutta.
“On my first day in school in the new country, the teacher mispronounced my name. I immediately corrected him, not in the way my parents pronounced it, but how I would want it to fit in,” she said. Though the version felt foreign, even to her, she added: “I realised it’s important to fit in”. Between cultures, she found herself stretching, adapting — slowly building a new identity, but not without questioning what she had left behind.
Closer home, for Moupriya Das, a Class XI student of South Point High School, the turning point came not from travel or movement, but a moment of pause, after a disappointing test score. Her first instinct was to blame circumstances. But over time, the mirror turned inward.
“At first, I blamed everything else, but eventually, I realised I did not give my all,” she said. The sting of failure stayed, but what followed was a quiet resilience. “It taught me responsibility, resilience and that mistakes aren’t the end, they’re how we grow.”
While some found their lessons in silence, others climbed towards them — literally. “Trekking isn’t just a peaceful stroll through the woods — ask my sore legs. From climbing slippery slopes to sliding on mossy rocks, I pushed myself harder than any school assignment ever could. We stayed in cosy homestays tucked deep in the hills, got a taste of local life, and learnt how to adapt, adjust and appreciate the little things — like warm food after a long hike or dry socks after the rain...
“Between uphill struggles and Maggi made over firewood, I discovered a quiet kind of joy, like watching clouds roll across distant peaks or walking through forests so still. You could hear your own thoughts. Out there, without screens or city noise, I felt something shift. We weren’t just moving through nature — we were slowly becoming part of it,” said Arush Roychoudhury, a Class XI student of Johnson Grammar School CBSE, Nacharam, Hyderabad.
Similarly, sometimes the path that begins with strangers and uncertain terrain ends in unlikely clarity. For Vihaan Jindal of Class XI, Delhi Public School R.K. Puram, a trek to Kedarkantha was more than a scenic adventure — it was a kind of shedding.
The group cooked meals together, camped by rivers and huddled under starry skies before the final climb.
“From riverside camps to cooking together, to climbing the Kedarkantha summit at sunrise. It was more than just an adventure,” he said. “Somewhere between those snowy trails and starry skies, I found a version of myself I had lost. I learnt to live in the moment, to trust others, and most importantly, to be happy with who I am.”
Psychotherapist Aditi Arora emphasised the transformative impact of experiential learning, pointing out how it can shape a child very differently compared to traditional classroom-bound methods.
She cited hiking trips as an example, where students not only test their physical limits but also uncover inner reserves of stamina, energy, and resilience. “Some may push themselves to complete the hike, while others may use the experience to improve for next time,” she said.
“Such real-life exposures,” she added, “play a crucial role in developing decision-making and problem-solving abilities.” Even seemingly small experiences, according to her, can leave a deep and lasting imprint, strengthening a student’s confidence and adaptability over time.
In each of these stories, learning did not come graded or certified. It came unexpectedly — in the trust of children, the silence of snow, the struggle with failure, the distance between two cultures.
If anything, it proved what many grown-ups often forget — that life, too, is a teacher. One that often whispers, waits and changes everything.