The annual Junior Retreat took place for the class of 2017 on Friday, October 16th at the Day Spring Episcopal Conference Center. The Day Spring Center brings together students from schools all over the area to improve on their team building skills. Freshman Juliana Ferrie states “I think that the most important factor of team building is communication. Without a healthy form of communication, the efforts of the developing team would be ineffective.” The junior class was split into groups and spent the entire day working together on ropes courses and mini challenges throughout the center to promote bonding and trust between sisters.

After arriving to the center, the students were directed to a field where they did a quick game similar to tag. There were two rounds of the game, each having slightly different rules. In the first round, each player had to have their hands on their knees, and in this situation they could not be tagged, but the catch is that they could not move. The only way to run and tag another opponent is to remove hands from knees. These rules applied again for the second round, however the twist was that being tagged out, the only way to be tagged in is for someone to slap hands. With this, of course, came a lesson. In the first round, not being able to back into the game after being tagged out, it was observed that students were more reluctant to moving, however when they could get back in, they were more willing to move around.

Following the first team building activity, the class was split into their groups and sent off to different activities on the center grounds. Junior Jessica Galvis shared her favorite ropes course “was the one where you walked on a tightrope. It was my favorite because I got to do it blind folded, and it was a challenge”  Five of the groups started off at the ropes courses, where strength, endurance, and teamwork were needed to complete each course. Two of the courses were designed to be participated in with a partner, while the others were to be done alone. Teamwork is applied to both courses, which is clear through the courses done with partners, however not evident for the single person courses. When climbing or walking alone, it is important to use the other group members to achieve the end goal.  

As the class broke up in the individual groups, they participated in smaller team building activities. Tarzan Baseball was one activity the groups participated in. The goal of the game is to swing on a rope and touch all four bases once, but there is a catch. Each player must start in the “tree house” which is behind a line, and cannot move past it unless they are holding the rope. When swinging, each player can only touch the rope once, and if they land on the ground, the game restarts.

Overall, the Junior Retreat for the Class of 2017 was filled with laughter and plenty of bonding. History teacher Mrs. Lori Kearney captured some of the best moments of the day and developed a video for the class to relive the retreat experience. Katie Hale humbly exclaims that after experiencing the retreat, “I learned that my sisters are always going to be there for me in everything that I do.” At the end of the day, students were called for a moment of reflection. Each leader revealed the theme of the year which is building the Body of Christ. Juliana Ferrie believes, “‘building the body of christ in the world’ means spreading the love and salvation Jesus expressed to us through His dying on the cross for our sins. By sharing who Jesus is, basing our actions off the ideals he taught us, and encouraging positive and kind acts in others, we each build the body of Christ throughout the world The leaders ended the retreat by posing the question “how can you build the Body of Christ in the world?”