After completing only two weeks of their last year of high school, the class of 2012 travelled up to Calvin Crest, where they attended the annual senior retreat, Aug. 27-28.

With a strong focus on strengthening relationships, the senior retreat included activities like team building exercises, a Nintendo Wii dance-off and time-honored wrestling matches. Principal Todd Bennett, Bible teacher Robert Foshee, math teacher Jane Gillespie and social studies teacher Jordana Seibert supervised the event.

Students, who left the FC campus at 10 a.m. and returned the following day at 1:30 p.m., were ushered up to the Calvin Crest campgrounds via school buses. Once there, students were divided up into randomly-selected groups, then competed against each other under the theme of “Olympics” for camp points. This entailed each group creating their own country, flag and cheer, then participating in games that tested strength, logic, stamina and teamwork.

“I felt like the teams were a great idea because they put us together with people that we maybe wouldn’t have had the opportunity to hang out with otherwise,” Mitch Weibert said. “Without the icebreaker of groups, I wouldn’t have gotten to hang out with so many different people because I’m such a shy person. It was definitely a lot of fun.”

For recreation, seniors competed with each other in kickball tournaments, performed skits and participated in a Nintendo Wii dance-off. As one of the final activities of the night, students engaged in a traditional night hike, where they were encouraged to express their feelings toward one another and their class as a whole.

“I thought that when we said our feelings about each other and school it was an interesting and eye-opening experience,” Bianca Hinojosa said. “People never get the opportunity to really say what they like about each other or school at just any time. Also, to hear that people feel the same way as I do about the fellowship we have at FCS, worries about college and the people in the senior class made me realize that we are all somewhat on the same mind track.”

After the night hike, students were offered free time to partake in an ice cream sunday bar, play Wii games and converse with friends. Following this, boys and girls were then segregated to their different cabins where they wrestled and then settled in for the night.

The next morning, students gathered for breakfast, packed and then congregated at the Calvin Crest offices for student-led worship, devotional and communion. It was during this time that Wolfpack Nation, one of six competing teams, was announced winner of the previous day’s activities.

“Winning the team challenge was super awesome because I am definitely super competitive and I kept telling my team we weren’t going to lose,” Allison Camden, a member of Wolfpack Nation, said. “It was also cool just because our team was pretty diverse and so it was so fun to just all come together as one team to win the whole thing.”

With their time at Calvin Crest over, students headed out, visiting Pizza Factory in Oakhurst for a pizza lunch before ending their trip. Though students overall enjoyed the excursion, many were drained by the time they made it to lunch.

“I thought the trip was a great time and it was really cool to get to know some of my classmates I didn’t before the trip,” Ryan Neufeld said. “Although it was a great time, I was glad to leave because I was exhausted by the end!”

Seibert, a first-year teacher and FC staff member, thought that the retreat revealed a unified class spirit and was unlike many of her experiences in high school.

“The first retreat was such a great experience,” Seibert said. “I had no idea that it would be so uniting for the entire senior class. It was so much fun to be a spectator and watch friendships be built. I felt honored to be there. This was unlike anything the senior class did as a whole at my high school.”

As a ten-year veteran of senior retreat, Foshee has noted that each class takes home something different from the trip.

“The activities are pretty similar a lot of the times, but it just depends on what the seniors put into it and what they make out of it,” Foshee said. “I think this year they did an awesome job opening up to each other and allowing God to use the weekend to let them have fun together but also unify what they want to do this year and how they want to be remembered as a class.”

Throughout the experience, Weibert says that he felt his class grow in their relationships and learn to value one another.

“I think our class bonded, and honestly became far closer than I ever thought we could,” Weibert said. “I feel that being together for the retreat really allowed us to realize that each person in our class has talents and personalities that we can all appreciate and love, no matter what background we might have come from.”

For more news, read the Aug. 26 article, BRIEF: Vargas lands ASB postition

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