Starting at fifth grade, every year the entire class goes on a three day retreat. These retreats are intended for bonding and creating meaningful memories with teachers and classmates. I’ve been to the retreats from fifth grade to freshman year, and they were definitely memorable. With every trip there is the good and the bad, as well things to be improved on, but the question is whether or not these retreats actually create these meaningful memories.
The middle school retreats have a common theme of pushing Parker kids towards the outdoors. In sixth grade, we were taken to the Indiana Dunes camp. In seventh grade we went to Pretty Lake camping site, and in eighth grade we went to Bradford Woods. I created many memories on these trips, good and bad.
I’m not a very outdoorsy person, and these trips are centered around the outdoors. At Pretty Lake we were literally camping. Being this type of person made these trips a bit less enjoyable. It’s cold, we slept in tents, and all night I could just feel one stick that was poking me in the back. I’m not the only person that felt this way, too. As well as being a little sleep deprived, there was a high ropes course that we offered to try. As someone who has an extreme fear of heights, I quickly backed out but felt like I was missing a part of the retreat. Although the high ropes course wasn’t a quintessential part of the retreat, I felt badly that I wasn’t comfortable enough to participate, and I was a little embarrassed, too. The point of these retreats is to try new things, bond, and make new friends, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It felt like I would be pushing my limits too far.
Another similar encounter was on the eighth grade retreat. During this trip, we went caving, and I’m not very claustrophobic, but when I saw how small the entrance to the cave was, a few peers and I felt a little doubtful. In the end I had a great experience, and I’m glad I get to say I’ve gone caving, but I know that for some people, this was a long way out of their comfort zone, which is reasonable. The entrance to the cave forced us to roll and do an army crawl for a long time. Our clothes got very dirty, and at a certain point, a lot of people, including myself, were tired and losing steam.
The school is sending a bunch of city kids, some of whom haven’t gone to camp or gone camping, to make them experience all these new things. It can be a bit overwhelming. The fact that they are centered around the wilderness isn’t a negative aspect of these trips, just something to consider and be mindful of. Some kids have harder times at these retreats than others which can interfere with the bonding aspect of the trip.
This idea ties into the high school retreats as well. Parker is all about building a community, and these retreats are central to this mission. The freshman retreat is three days at school of just getting to know each other. I found it to be a good experience. I got more familiar with the new faces in my class, and got to know all my new teachers.
I have definitely made memories from these trips and learned new things, but I wouldn’t say that I really bonded with people or made new friends from retreats other than the freshman retreat where new bonds were more emphasized.
Going forward, I feel that new experiences on retreats are great, but they can test people’s limits. It’s important to be conscious of these things throughout the retreats.
