This past Monday and Tuesday, the sophomores took a two-day retreat to ‘The Forge’ outdoor adventure park and ‘The Second City’. The first day was to “The Forge,” and included a mix of activities such as,  ropes course, kayaking in the lake, and playing laser tag outdoors.

This year was different because in the past, sophomores have gone to The Touch of Nature Environmental Center in Carbondale. At the center,  the trip was a 3-night adventure taking place in the middle of the woods with cabins and a mess hall. “The activities at The Touch of Nature Environmental Center were much more extensive,” Upper School History Teacher Andrew Bigelow said.

The sophomore retreat this year was different from the usual sophomore retreat. “This year, the timing of the retreat was a lot better because of a good mental physical experience,” Bigelow said, “usually the retreat takes place before the school year even starts so it was different and even better that it took place after some weeks of school had already passed.”  Bigelow highlighted that the retreat this year gave students a good break as well as helped students deal with anxiety or workload. 

The sophomore grade heads found this new location for an improvised sophomore retreat by finding places that were fun, meaningful, and purposeful. “The Forge” was a place that freshmen used to go to for their retreat, so the grade heads found it as the perfect replacement plan for the sophomores this year. “Since the sophomores missed their freshman retreat last year, it seemed like the perfect idea,” Bigelow said. 

For the second day, Sophomores went to Second City, “The idea for the Second City was Bruno’s idea. Improv is a good skill to have and a necessity for the future and the kids, it was actually more of a challenge and more uncomfortable than the activities at The Forge,” Bigelow said. These two days had a large contrast to each other but challenged the students in different ways.