Middle School Builds Community at Grade-Level Retreats

 

Sixth graders began their time together watching Zootopia through the lens of try, fail, and try again, using the theme song titled “Try Everything!” as inspiration throughout their retreat. Students then participated in both active activities like ice-skating and reflective ones like practicing mindfulness techniques and poetry writing. They also traveled to the Upper School and put their teamwork skills to the test on the low ropes course. Students helped each other walk on a cable, step from post to post, swing and land on a wooden palette, and balance on a teetering platform. If they tried and failed, they tried again! The retreat helped students realize the importance of each person as a significant contributor to the total community.

 

   

Seventh graders spent the first part of the week exploring identity and community at the The Sally & Bob Gries Center for Experiential and Service Learning at University Circle prior to traveling to Kelley’s Island, where they began a series of activities and challenges designed to help them better understand their role as a member of their advisory. Among other activities, students worked together to create and perform creative skits. They also investigated Kelley’s Island, engaging in discussions with residents at the local school, learning about the tagging and migratory patterns of Monarch butterflies, and hiking to the Glacial Grooves. Once back at Lyndhurst, students focused on understanding the perspective of others while discovering downtown Cleveland. They traveled to Voinovich Park and worked on an advisory challenge to construct a sign composed of photographs of found structural and natural elements. After a picnic lunch at Edgewater Park, they returned to campus to reflect on their experiences.

 

Eighth graders began their retreat at the ropes challenge course at the Gates Mills campus. Students were also challenged to find their way around a local metro park trail using GPS coordinates.  They then spent the next two days in the Allegheny National Forest, where advisory groups, accompanied by advisors and facilitators from the Project USE group (Urban Suburban Environment), learned to collaborate as teams as they hiked together, slept under tarps, cooked and found their way through the woods. 

 

Students returned from their retreats with a clearer sense of themselves, each other, and their role in their community.