BOARDMAN — Life imitated art for a group of Boardman High School students.

Seniors Andrew Shrembeck, Graham Seditz, Julien Anders and BHS graduate Nick Johnson embarked on a 10-day road trip to Missouri in July after reading Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

The students are former Advanced Placement English students, who studied under Randy Nord.

The book served as a road map for a summer camping adventure in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Together, the quartet discussed their adventure by sharing a presentation with Nord’s current AP English classes.

Their PowerPoint presentation included photos and advice, while comparing the same adventurous spirit of Huck Finn.

“We jumped into the Mississippi River, and we didn’t expect the current to be as strong as it was,” Shrembeck said.

“Or as slimy and cold,” Seditz added.

Staying in a campground, the foursome explored life in a small town as they looked at architecture, talked with neighbors, bartered with storekeepers and developed an appreciation for the unexpected — the latter seeming to be a theme for 2020.

“In life, you can plan things to a certain extent, but sometimes it’s good to be spontaneous,” Johnson shared with the class.

While the young men presented to four classes, dozens of remote students tuned in for the discussions as well.

As they were on their summer camping trip, Nord was one of 2,300 AP English teachers and professors grading AP English language and composition exams for 2020. “It’s an honor to be a grader for the AP program,” Nord said .

Assistant Principal Anne Bott said that Nord’s commitment to the AP curriculum is evident in the students’ scores.

“Randy Nord’s students are consistently successful in earning scores that they are able to apply to colleges for credit. It is no surprise to me that Randy was asked to be a grader for the AP exams,” Bott said.