On October 27 and 28, 2016 the Grade 10 students of St. George’s School participated in the annual Leadership Retreat. This camp revolved around the notion of ‘well-being’ which focus was “not just for the Grade 10s, (but) for the whole school.” This theme was taught through various activities and lesson that occurred throughout the camp time-table. With activities such as yoga, true-colours, mindfulness, rock climbing, nutrition, high ropes the goal of the camp was for the Grade 10s to ‘offset or prevent stress that is put upon (them)’  that happens is their daily lives.

On day 1 (October 27), the Grade 10s headed to Camp Squeah, located in Hope, British Columbia. In the morning, they were introduced to their cabins and groups; the groups were named based on of spiritual first nation animals such as the frog, the connection between the land and water, and the salmon, the representation of perseverance and resilience. After the organization tasks had been taken care of, the groups commenced with the early activities and were given a preview of the camp. The events were laid out, so that outdoor activity and indoor activities were alternating evenly between blocks. On the first day, the groups went through five of the seven events which follow:

Nutrition

Students learned about different body types and how much food each body type should consume on a daily basis. Students also learned what kinds of foods have good and bad fats.  The goal of this station was to help students eating habits improve towards a healthier lifestyle.

Mindfulness

The students were taught by Jodi Derkson on how to become more mindful and relieve stress within their inner selves. She taught many practices and routines to help the students meditate for 20 minutes in the morning before school to help them start their day in a positive way.

Rock Climbing and High Ropes

The students were taught how to use a harness and climb the artificial rock climbing walls which were located in the Camp Squeah gym. In the high ropes station students took the “Leap of Faith” to help strengthen their trust between one another.

Initiatives

In this station, two strings lay on the ground.  The question was, “are these two ropes tied together or not?”  All students had to agree on one solution.  The goal of this was to work together as a team and logically discuss whether or not the ropes were attached to each other.  

Yoga

Each group came together in the Squeah lounge to perform yoga with an instructor that taught them positions placing their bodies out of the “comfort zone.” Many simple and advanced positions were performed; some of the students could execute them while others could not.

On the second day (October 28), the students woke up at 7 am, where they headed to the lounge for breakfast provided by the staff of Squeah. On the final day, they participated in the two activities that they did not participate in on the first day. After the two events had concluded for each group, the Grade 10s ate lunch in the dining hall and departed from the camp at 2 PM, thus arriving at St. George’s School, to their families, at 5 PM.