After a day of waiting in the deep woods of Algonquin, a cluster of worn-out teens stood at the shore of Smoke Lake — desperate for news of their 15-year-old classmate, who went missing the night before.

It was just after 5 p.m. Wednesday when the students were given the update they’d spent nearly 24 hours hoping not to hear.

The search was over. Jeremiah Perry’s body had been found.

With tears in her eyes, Shari Schwartz-Maltz — a spokesperson for the Toronto District School Board — confirmed the boy’s death.

“As many times as we talked about it today, was as many times as we were hoping that it wasn’t true,” she said, standing at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute in North York, where anxious parents of students on the camping trip had gathered all day.

“We’ll do what we can to support the family and the kids.”

Jeremiah had been swimming with his classmates in Big Trout Lake on Tuesday evening when he went underwater and did not resurface, said Killaloe OPP spokesperson Catherine Yarmel.

After a day of exhaustive searches, with friends and family holding out hope that he’d be found, Jeremiah’s body was located at 3:25 p.m. on Wednesday.

Though students were originally slated to return to Toronto on Friday, the board’s first priority after Jeremiah disappeared was to get the remaining 32 kids home — enlisting all measures possible to lift them out.

Eleven kids were flown to the park’s welcome centre by sea plane, which could transport two or three people at a time, but the aircraft was “disabled” after the first handfuls made it across, OPP said.

By Wednesday evening, some of the kids had been waiting for a full day at the camp site. Two helicopters and two planes have been flown out, but for approximately seven hours after the first plane broke, no students were moved.

Kids had been separated into two groups in the bush, with Jeremiah’s group and his older brother Marion — who also went on the trip — taken out first.

After a day of waiting, around 7:40 p.m., a bright yellow floatplane carrying a few more landed on the water.

When the group stepped onto the dock, the students already there ran to greet them, wrapping up their friends in a tight embrace. A few adults did their best to comfort the grieving teens.

Another plane landed just before 8 p.m. A final flight, containing three students and a canoe, touched down around 8:20 as dusk settled in. Students who’d arrived were wrapped in blankets, pacing by the water’s edge and joining their friends in a small circle.

However, one group of kids was still in the woods as of 9:20 p.m. and it was unclear whether they’d be coming home Wednesday.

There was also no word from the OPP on when Jeremiah’s body will be recovered. Just after 9 p.m., an ambulance had pulled up to the shore.

“It’s been a hard day. Really, really hard day. I’ve been here for nine years, there’s never been an incident like this before. I can’t remember seeing people so upset,” Schwartz-Maltz said.

Jeremiah was a student at C.W. Jefferys and joined some of his classmates and other students from Westview Centennial Secondary School on an annual excursion to Algonquin Park.

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A child and youth counsellor is with the students and will travel back by bus with the students, once they’re able to get them all out.

“We are fortunate she (the counsellor) was able to go because she knows the kids from the school . . . It’s important they’re there to support each other,” Schwartz-Maltz said.

She added that social workers were stationed at the school to talk to parents and students.

The excursion was part of a summer school outdoor education program that focused on leadership development, said TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird. Activities like canoeing and portage were part of the trip, and Bird said that swim tests would have been done prior to departure.

The swim test was described as “quite strict” by Schwartz-Maltz, and included water safety, laps, and a level of underwater endurance. Of the staff on the trip, two are teachers and the others are outdoor education specialists.

Karen Falconer, the superintendent for C.W. Jefferys’ summer school, came outside the school an hour after Jeremiah’s death was confirmed to express her condolences to the family and gratitude to the OPP, principals, teachers, staff and community “in the face of this huge tragedy.”

Safety, she said, was at the top of mind for the TDSB for all their trips.

“We will continue to learn from each and every trip that we take. There isn’t a single tragic incident that’s happened in the Toronto District School Board that we have not learned from and become better at,” she said.

“But we know every possible procedure and process was in place to ensure the safety of our students and staff . . . The sadness of this is even more profound in light of how seriously we take that safety.”

Later in the evening, TDSB director John Malloy issued a statement on Jeremiah’s death, saying that “despite holding out hope,” police have deemed the boy victim to “an apparent drowning.”

The summer outdoor education course has been operating for years, he added, “with an excellent safety record.” In the coming period, staff would be reviewing “each and every aspect” of Jeremiah’s death.

“We are continuing to offer all the supports that we can to the family, as well as students and staff. These supports will remain in place for as long as they’re needed.”