The Storm King School Class of 2023 took some time recently to relax, get to know one another, and set goals at Senior Retreat. Senior Retreat is a yearly tradition where the entire class leaves campus together to get closer to nature and reflect as they work on team-building, leadership, and community. The event helps solidify the bond between new and returning class members, and sets a positive tone for the students’ final year at Storm King.

The Retreat was held at the Black Rock Forest Lodge in neighboring Black Rock Forest. As in the past, the group trekked up to the Lodge on the afternoon of Saturday, October 15. When they arrived, the class was delighted to find thirty pizzas, ice cream, and other treats waiting for them before they immersed themselves in the evening’s activities.

Accompanied by their advisors, the group got to know one another more closely with an ‘ice-breaker’ word matching challenge and a rotating circle activity. Students were placed in two circles– an inner and an outer circle, both facing each other. Each pair took turns answering the MC’s questions such as “What do you value most in a friendship,” “What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?” and other deep knowledge questions.

To help them pinpoint their future expectations, the students were also tasked with writing letters to themselves answering questions about their goals and potential challenges: ‘What do you hope will happen this year? How will it play out? What is your dream for life? What is your greatest obstacle and what action step will you take to overcome it?’ The students’ letters were collected at the end of the exercise and will reappear in an end-of-year activity.

The ‘Marshmallow Challenge’ was a another fun engineering challenge to find out which group could build the highest freestanding structure using spaghetti, string, masking tape, and a marshmallow. In another community-building activity, the students broke into smaller groups and drew a ‘spirit animal’ that best described them. Later in the evening, the drawings were shared with the class and students tried to identify one another through their drawings.

For their final task, each senior was asked to write down their fears on a card which they placed in a box before heading back to campus. The following evening, a senior bonfire was held at the fire pit near the Art Center where the students threw their cards into the fire, thus burning their fears.

By the end of the weekend, the seniors were tired but smiling and the Senior Retreat’s mission was accomplished: a great time was had by all, the senior class had grown much closer, and each student had a clearer vision of how they planned to make their final year at Storm King a great one.