Skip to main content

Leadership Class Bonds During Retreat

By

 By Andrew Kaney

This past Friday, students taking Leadership Development were excused from classes to have a “retreat” in Ziemer Dorm.

In recent years, the class had spent the night on Penang Hill for the retreat, but this year’s trip was cancelled due to the MOE. Despite the cancellation, Mr. Ronzheimer, the school’s Spiritual Life Director, took the opportunity to help the class bond and to teach them about companionship.

The retreat started with a morning devotional at the beach and a breakfast of waffles and bacon made by some of the students’ moms. After breakfast, Mr. Ronzheimer led the class through team building activities.

During one such activity, students got to know each other through “speed dating.” Members of the class were paired up and given time to get to know each other on a deeper level before rotating partners.

After “speed dating”, the class took part in a trust-fall. One-by-one, the students fell backwards off a high ledge as the other students caught them from below. The activity helped build trust within the class. The pinnacle of the activity was when Mr. Ronzheimer demonstrated his trust by doing the falling off the ledge without hesitation.

Along with team building activities, one of the most memorable parts of the day came when the students got the opportunity to from Daniel Choi. Daniel talked about how companionship had played a big role in his life. As Meredith Johnson said, “I loved when Daniel talked to us about companionship and about how we have the opportunity to help facilitate unity within our grade.”

The day in the dorm finished with free time for the students to talk and play games. After a few minutes, however, a “rap battle” broke out between Mycah Winsor and Zoe Seeveratnam. With John Kim and Yumin Kim providing the beat on the guitar and cajon, the class gathered around as Mycah and Zoe went back and forth rapping at each other. The “rap battle” provided a fun ending to a day of growth and bonding.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DINGBAT DALAT STUDENT SPENDS PRECIOUS TIME CONJURING UP SELF-REFERENTIAL SENIOR SCRIBBLE RATHER THAN GATHERING LEGITIMATE WORK

By Anonymous
Yusoof Monawvil PENANG, MA - As the deadline drew near and the stars aligned in the night sky above the majestic waters of the Strait of Malacca, one particular Dalat student—Yusoof Monawvil (12), despite a plethora of school events to select and report on—opted instead to spend a remarkably well-wasted 24 minutes staring at a blank Google Docs page, fruitlessly drawing up and shooting down brainstormed ideas.  In a moment of sheer and undeniable epiphany, Monawvil deemed it only fitting to self-referentially satirize his own ingrained incompetence and dingbattery. Commenting on the flash of insight, Monawvil quoted himself, saying: “It all just kinda made sense. I went on DISCourse to look at the little rubric thing Ms. Grad and Mr. Hieber posted, and I checked if I was following all of the guidelines... And I technically am/was; [N]ot like there’s any specific direktive [sic] prohibiting self-quoting.”  In a turn of events, Monawvil did come to find his self-quoting en...
6 comments
Read more

"Spikeball, Swimming, and Sickness: The Remnants of Senior Sneak" by Ee Rynn Ong

By
“Guys, I think we’re here,” said Jonathan Ooi (12) as he peeked out of the lorry to catch the first glimpse of our Senior Sneak location. This year’s Senior Sneak was held in Nomad Adventure, Gopeng, and the organizers planned many activities for the Class of 2026, ranging from traditional games like congkak and batu seremban to adrenaline-pumping ropes courses and whitewater rafting. These scheduled activities proved to be some of the best highlights of the trip, but top of that, the seniors were also given some daily free time to chat, explore, and relax. Josh Stevens (12) had come prepared for this with two spikeball nets, which immediately attracted attention from people eager to spend time in the outdoor sun. The next five days saw spikeball veterans and newcomers alike, spending their precious one and a half hours daily around the unassuming circular net, smashing the yellow ball in hopes of a victory.  Caleb Evans (12) was one of the newbies to spikeball, learning how the g...
Post a Comment
Read more

“I Miss Her” by Nikhil Pillay

By
While most people had a fun week for mid-semester break, whether it was spent with family, or with friends on impact trips, no one had a more emotionally confusing week than Judson Kenneth Robert Nosker (12).  In the light of recent events, Judson, despite all odds, had gotten in a relationship with one of his classmates, and as the break started, he had started to spend a lot of time with her. While with her, he started to experience a new level of joy and completeness that he had never felt before. In the words of Judson Nosker, “The first half of the break was good, but the rest of it was horrible.”  The reason for such a quote and the roller coaster of emotion was because half way through the break, disaster had struck. Judson’s girlfriend had gone on a trip with her family to Thailand, leaving Judson all alone. For the rest of the week, Judson was in a state of longing for her presence.  His friends have reported numerous occasions when Judson would be sitting with t...
Post a Comment
Read more