Middle School Cross Country Teams Experience the Cranbrook Campus on the Run

Coach Nicole Steimel has coached Middle School Cross Country since 2003, inspired by her daughter who loved to talk about all the things they had seen while practicing. As she coached, she developed a deep interest in learning about the people, stories, and places that fill the campus, and to share this with her teams.

Some of the destinations are Echo Court, the Rainbow Fountain, The Japanese Garden, both Alumni Courts, Jonah and the Whale, the Orpheus Fountain, the Triton Pool, the Chinese Dog ramp, Cranbrook House and the Sunken Garden, the Greek Theater, The Oval, Friendship Circle, Cranbrook’s Dining Hall, Kingswood’s Green Lobby, The Peacock Gate, HUB Garden, and the Sunglitter tunnel.

Exploring the campus on foot allows all kinds of discoveries. Team members notice that all the doors are different, all the chimneys are different, and that bathrooms are often decked in Pewabic tiles.

Students say that they develop a sense of connection to something bigger than themselves, and that they develop an ethic that “this is ours and we have to take care of it.”