Assignment

Class of 2004 reports from the Retreat
Most memorable moments at Camp Caz, September 20 - 22, 2000

Thomas Post

On our retreat to the Russian River, I experienced many happy, and exciting moments with my class. The first moment, ironically, started on the 2 hour bus ride up to Camp Cazadero. It was a fine day, wind was blowing, the sun was shining, and the clouds, were perched upon the bright blue sky, as if to say, "hello down there, everything it dandy up here."; I couldn't have felt better, I was exhilarated, because I had just eaten a bowl of delectable frosted flakes. When we boarded the bus, I was lucky enough to sit next to my associate, Michelle. We had a gay old time, partly because we were excited of the days to come. Another great moment was when some juniors and seniors took all the freshmen into the woods to tell stories, and jokes. It gave all of us time to get to know alot of the upper classmen, and also let us get to know one another on a more comfortable level. The greatest moment though, was the talent show, when we got to see Zoley play the guitar with his teeth, see Mr. Andrew Brown sing the blues, and watch alot of sophomores and freshmen

Mackenzie Moll

My most memorable experience on the retreat was basically the whole first day. I think that on Wednesday I think that we all came together as a class and just bonded. On this day most of our grade went swimming. We all hung out together and became a whole. All of us as individuals had a chance to shine. We all became friends to each other not because of what we look like but because of who we are. On our retreat we went past all of the appearance standards that we all might have had and hung out with each other all together and had a great time. The retreat gave us a chance to show people who we are and to bond together as people and as friends.

Kevin Scott II

My most memorable moment at the retreat was hanging out with my friends. I was able to learn new things about them and make new bonds with them. Stronger bonds than I thought possible in such a short amount of time. I have made new friends during the retreat also. More so Sophomores than Freshmen. During the retreat my friends and I would share stories about our lives and problems that we have and we all worked together to help each other work out the problems. The peer counselors would take the Freshmen to the sanctuary and tell scary and funny stories too. Another memorable part was looking up to the sky and seeing all the stars that were in the galaxy. There were more stars than I could ever count. Since I live in the city, I am not able to see that many stars at night. Looking up to the heavens at those moments brought a tear to my eye, in happiness and awe. The campfire was also a fun a memorable moment. You got to see the fun side of everyone, and of Leslie. I even got to participate in a game of Chubby Bunny, I lasted until about 7 or 8 marshmallows. I am glad that I was able to go on the trip and I am awaiting next years.

Julia Hammerschlag

On late Tuesday morning it finally hit me that I would be in Cazadaro the following day. I was exhausted and overwhelmed by school work that I hadn't even pondered about the retreat. Late that night I threw together several pants, shorts, and almost every tank top I owned. I was told by many teachers that the weather would be out of control, and the heat would have an extreme impact on us. I arrived at Oak Street, eight o'clock, and I scurried to the nearest bus. I hadn't expected the camp like as what I saw. Nothing worse and nothing better, it just differed. There were plenty of activities to keep us busy throughout the day, volleyball, football, basketball, swimming, an wall art. After a certain amount of time to settle in, we ate, and were put into teams, sophomores and freshman combined. We commenced with an original relay race, began with devouring saltine crackers and then whistling, shooting five hoops, and stuffing an enormous piece of watermelon without any utensils nor hands. The activities were never ending, and the conversations never came to a stop. If I learned anything on this trip, I learned who my truest friends were, and that the sophomores aren't what I expected. The girls are extremely outgoing, sincere and sweet. It was definitely worth it, although the campsite wasn't gorgeous, I had a very acceptable time.

Dennis Huynh

On the second day of camping, Joel Cohen and Jeff, the teacher took Max, Natasha, Lisa, Jeff, the kid Elizabeth and I hiking into the wood. The hiking was very good. We played a game called Monkey. It is when one person makes a letter then the next person makes the next letter until the last person can't make a word. We played it for a while until Jeff won the game. Then we did some more hiking until we all got tired. We went back to camp. But there was a problem with Max and I. We couldn't go back to our cabin for some reasons... Later that day some thing got better I guess. We did a treasure hunt but it wasn't much of a fun because almost nobody care about the hunt.

Hewette Moore

The retreat was extremely fun. The first dy we got there was the best day. First we got to go into our cabin and got associated. We picked our own beds where the was eight sets of bunkbeds in our room. Many people were in my room including; Natalie Julia, Theo, Jeanne, Tracy, Ali, Hema, and others. I decided to be kind and gave Natalie first pick for where to sleep. She decided to be on the top and I agreed with her. Then we went to the cafataria where the teachers gave us many announcements on what we were going to do the first day at Camp Cazadero. We had to choose our activity of the day and I chose swimming. Then after we picked our activity, we were put into groups where we had rely races including; whistling after eating a saltine cracker, making five basktes with a football, eating a watermelon with no hands and playing leap frog. We had a lot of fun doing that. Then we did our activities and swimming was a lot of fun. We had a great time making splashs and dunking our friends. That night the seniors decided to take us and tell jokes for an hour or so, which was ok. I had a lot of fun that day.

Clovis Boureille

My name is Clovis Boureille. I have chosen to write 200 words about the retreat and all the negative and positive remarks. There seems to have been alot of fighting and crying during the coarse of the trip. Most of those reason, I don't have a clue. Most of the crying was because of drugs, bugs, snakes, homesick, teachers, peers, boyfriends/girlfriends, ... After the long bus ride and assigned to our cabins, we ate our lunch and were given a tour. The wasn't great and nor was the weather. Wednesday was too hot (101 degrees!), and Thursday/Friday were too cold (rain!).They had a freezing cold pool, their cabins were disgustingly filthy, and only cold showers.

Angela Reston

Anyway the retreat was a very controversial subject, and I am choosing to avoid certain things which occurred over the days of September 20-22nd. Anyway on the morning on September at 8am all the 9th and 10 graders of ihs, were being dropped off by their parents so that they could commence with the 3 day experience of the retreat. Anyway we all got in these buses and we drove up to Camp Cazadero. We arrived there around noon and is was sweltering hot. The pool there looked so inviting at the time. I must say. When we arrived every individual settled into their cabin, and we were called up to the dining porch for a meeting and lunch. later that day I signed up for swimming. Damn the pool was freezing, we didn't stay for very long. The next day consisted of the same things meals, activities, socializing all that type of stuff. Anyway we left on September 22nd. we were limited of the amount of buses for the return we only had 3 and we had 4 buses on the way up.

Dmitry Karpovich

My name is Dmitry. I am now being forced, against my will, mind you, to write either about myself, or about the retreat I went to last week. Decisions, decisions. I guess Iıll write about... the retreat. There was alot of bonding at the retreat. Between everyone. Freshman and sophomores, students and teachers, a whole lot of bonding. The pool was cool. In fact, it was cold. Funny funny ha ha. There was a woman at the retreat, the owner. Boy was she weird. She had this golf cart see. She drove it around like it was a Porsche or something. She would try to rev the little two stroke engine like it was a V8. I asked her for a ride and she said no. Yeah the retreat was fun. Everyone brought CDs and boomboxes even though they weren't allowed. Overall the retreat was fun. I liked it. Oh yeah! A kid broke his collar bone and dislocated his shoulder. It was bad. He almost had to get helicopter lifted out of the park. It was cool. He's ok. He's not on the soccer team anymore. That was the retreat.

Sophie DeNola

I think that the entire retreat was memorable, not just one part of it. I made friends with people I had barely spoken to, worked as a group to compete with others, and just flat out had a good time. I'm really glad I got so close to certain people, for example, Kim, Livaskio, and Stephanie. Before the retreat, I hadn't even had a conversation with either of them, but by sharing a cabin with Stephanie, and spending time with Kim and Livaskio, I was able to get to know them better. Before the retreat, I had never really had to do anything as a group, but now that I have, I know that I am able to get along with people and work with them as a team. I especially liked having Sarah at the retreat and apart of my team. She is a senior peer counselor. She is one of my sister's friends and having known her made it easier for me to talk to her when I needed to. She was really nice and made me more comfortable around people I didn't know.

I really enjoyed sharing a cabin with Eloise, Jessica, Stephanie, Abby, Usra, and Anna. It was already nice that I knew Eloise and Jessica, and am really good friends with both of them, but then I got to know Abby, Stephanie, Usra and Anna. We all had some problems with some guys in our grade, and we were all able to help and comfort each other.

One thing I didn't like about the retreat was that we all fought over this one guy. It was a really upsetting night and we all ended up crying. Everything is fine now, but that completely ruined the evening. I really regret that. The night at the campfire was really cool. Some people played some games and ate s'mores. That's when I became good friends with Stephanie and Kim.

Abigail Brown

The retreat will definitely be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. The retreat not only helped me make new friends, but it helped make the relationships that I had already established. While I did get in some memorable fights with certain people, everything turned out okay in the end. The organized activities weren't the funnest part of the retreat, but they gave us something to do for certain hours of the day. The pool there was really nice. While it was cold, I had lots of fun swimming in it. My most memorable part of the retreat was definitely getting to know everyone much better. I had so many "deep and personals" (joking) with lots of people. I even go learned things I never knew about people I have known from before. I hope that the friends I made will stay my friends even after the elation of the retreat ends. If I really had to choose one memory that I enjoyed the best, I probably would choose my food fight with Josh. I started it, I must admit, but he definitely won. While he only suffered the wrath of one potato crisp dipped in catsup, I was subjected to not only one butter biscuit pelted at me, but another that was smushed down my back. Only after the third wash did the stains come out! One could also say that I won, because he got caught, though he didn't get in trouble. that was the fun and joy of the retreat. maybe I should be scare to go back next year, but Iım actually looking forward to it.

John Alsup

Well, you see that I have a large reputation for not being dunked in the pool. So, considering this, about five girls, ganged up on me and they decided to try and dunk me in the freezing pool. Their strategy was a good one, for they had one person around my neck, one around my leg, and the other on the other. Also, they had two people left, each grabbing my arms. So, basically, I didn't have a chance of succeeding, yet I tried my hardest to beat them all. First I took the most obvious, but he most risky, to get the person on my legs off of them. This would be risky for the others could easily pull me down. I got her off. The my next priority was to get rid of the one around my waist, practically suffocating me. I grabbed her and I shoved her away. The two on my arms were now really trying to get me under, but if I had gotten this far I wasn't about to let it all go. The next came on my left arms, since my right was stronger, it would be easier to grab her and throw her to where she couldn't come back. I did so. Now I only had two left. The one around my neck was going to be my last. Then it happened. The one around my neck scratched me across my chest. I screamed so loud inside my head, I couldn't hear myself think for hours. I wasn't going to give up now. It had become personal. The one on my right arm was now going to leave my arm, I promised myself that. I pulled my left arm across, and with one full swoop, she was in the air, flying. I hadn't hit her, no, all I had done was throw her away. Now it was time to get payback on the one around my neck. She hadn't done this before, I could tell, for she instantly gave me the option I needed to win. I grabbed her shoulders, behind my head, and I grabbed hard. I used all my force, and magically, she went flying across the pool to the other side. That day was a day I will never forget, and everytime I look at my chest, and across my stomach, the scars will remind me of the battle that I had won.

Natalie Hirsch

The Retreat was definitely a memorable experience full of lots of excitement. The bus ride up was about two and a half hours, but it didn't quite seem that long. I sat next to my friend Theodora. We watched Jumanji and Power Rangers. Those were both excellent movies even though we didn't get to finish the Power Rangers. I was put into the Redwood cabin. This was the biggest cabin and the coolest part about this cabin was that it had like a lounge area with a couch and chairs. Everyone was always in our cabin. I think the most entertaining part about the retreat was the last night, Thursday night, after the evening program a bunch of people came into our cabin to hang out (even though they weren't supposed to). Some teachers came in and got mad so everyone who didn't belong in Redwood had to leave. The rest of us were extremely hungry so Leslie and Kara said they would try to find something for us to eat. They came back a half hour later with a big box of cookie. We ate the complete box and were satisfied with our hunger, only now we were very thirsty. They said that they would try and find us something to drink but after that we had to go to sleep. An hour and a half later they came back with a big box of juice boxes. We all drank about 2 or 3 juice boxes each. By that point it was 2:30 in the morning and way past our curfew so we went to sleep. It was a lot of fun because we had a good time waiting and eating all of those cookies.

Ryan-Tait Mapa

One of the most memorable parts of the retreat was simply the trip there. I missed the first half of the retreat because I was sick. I came to school on Thursday and for the first half of the day I was busy catching up on the work I had missed the last three days and doing some stuff for Mr. Brown. I was unable to think of a better word than stuff. Anyway that stuff was going to count for the service part of the CAS stuff I had to do. At about 1:30 we set off on our long and perilous journey to Camp Cazedero. Our vehicle of travel was a trusty FAIS van. After a very long time of listening to the conversations in the van we hit an important milestone in our journey. I asked the famous question of travel. "Are we there yet?" After about 30 minutes of travel Mr. Brown exclaimed, "We're lost!" He said that we had gone around in a big circle. After a few more minutes we Reached a familiar area. It was the same spot I had asked are we there yet. At the time it was extremely funny. That was the highlight of my trip.

Madeline Nossiter

At 8:00am on Wednesday the 20th of September we waited on Oak street for the busses to arrive and take us to Camp Cazedero. Everyone was tired but somewhat excited about all the said to be "fun" activities the faculty had planned for us. Despite a bunch a screaming young adults and a very windy road, the bus ride went fairly smoothly. When we arrived in Cazedero we explored our surroundings and hung out with our cabin mates for a few minutes. When the bell rang we were served lunch. After lunch we were divided into teams with freshmen and sophomores, my team was called "Puma." We didn't win the competition but it was fun anyway. We did a bunch of activities with our team, such as a water balloon toss where some people got soaked, but had a good time in the process. After the team activities we had a choice between art, swimming, kung-fu, and basketball. I chose swimming because it was so hot out. When we arrived at the pool everyone jumped in hoping it would be a nice temperature but the coldness made your teeth chatter. The second day followed like the first and then the third day was spent preparing to leave. The retreat didn't last very long but it was a good experience anyway.

Philip Frenkel

Hey, Philip F. here, I'm going to be talking about the retreat. It's the 9th and the 10th graders that go together and "bond". Some of the events that happened were, a relay race which involved: eating a saltine cracker, shooting hoops, doing hand-stands and walking like a frog. Then, there was a water balloon contest where one had to catch a water filled balloon from twenty feet away. Most of us ended up soaking wet. Fortunately, I wasn't not among them. Most of the time, we had to do whatever we wanted. My favorite thing to do was tackle football and talking with friends. The first night there, we, the 9th graders went out for a night "walk". It was not too bad. All we did was tell jokes. We didn't get to bed until about around 2 in the morning. The second night, the 10th graders went out for their "walk". We had the whole place to ourselves. The second day, Jeffrey broke his collar bone and the fire department was called. He's ok now. It took about 15 minutes for the fire department to arrive, talk about slow!

Stephanie
Lowenthal-Savy

I think that my most memorable experience at our retreat was the second night around our campfire. Once the sun had set and the stars were out, the peer counselors and our accompanying teachers brought us out into the forest to a campfire. It was a bit like an auditorium: the seats started on the top of a knoll and worked it's way to the bottom of the hill. At the bottom, where the seats stopped, there was a large campfire. probably about two or three feet in diameter. Behind the fire was a platform where the peer counselors and our teachers were seated. Continuing behind them was another hill going up, plotted with trees, stumps and bushes. Beyond the first few trees was complete darkness, we couldn't see past the first few meters of the hill. The peer counselors were asking each of us to count the stars we could see above our heads, the surrounding trees, and the amount of people were in the row we were seated in. To them, it was supposed to be a special moment, just a few minutes when everyone was silent and we could all get in touch with whatever was around us. As we were just summing up all of what we had previously counted, we heard some people squealing, screeching, basically freaking out, on the platform by the campfire. As we all looked down, we saw a scared raccoon scurrying away. The expressions on the counselors faces, the whole idea... It was so funny! Actually, now that I think about it, it doesn't seem that funny. O well!

Jeffrey Rosen

I thought the retreat was pretty lame... The main thing I did was sit around. Occasionally there was an activity that I could do, such as hiking, I would do it, but still, most of the time I was just sitting around. The food wasn't too great, but it was still ok. The most memorable activity was when I sat completely still in the same place for three solid hours... It wasn't fun, but I definitely remembered it. The only thing that I thought was fun was the kung-fu lessons. I've watched a lot of people do martial arts, but I've never actually done it myself.

Theadora Maura

The 9th and 10th grade retreat was fun for pretty much everyone, both ninth graders and tenth graders. The last night my cabin got really hungry so we asked Kara and Leslie if they could find us some food. When they agreed we were all sooooo happy....About 20 minutes later they came back with a big tub of cookies, the good kind! we were all so happy and practically inhaled it! It was all gone! Then we realized we were all so incredibly thirsty, so we asked Kara if she could get us some milk(mmmmm, cookies and milk),she said sure... so we waited... and waited... and waited... and waited... for about and hour and a half. Then we saw a flash light in the far distance, we were all so excited and still incredibly thirsty! When the light got closer we saw who it was, it wasn't Kara, it was a pack of teacher wondering why we were all still up?! when we told them that we were just waiting for our milk, they said it was okay, and that they would try to find Kara, and our milk! Then a couple of minutes later we saw Kara and a huge box filled with about 35 juice boxes! We all ran and pushed our way to the juice!(every man for themselves).The 8 of us drank all 35 boxes in about ten minutes, no joke! The whole trip in general was so much fun and I can't wait till next year!

Nicholas Tuhacek

My most memorable experience at the Retreat is the swimming. It was like 60 degrees out side and 43 people were swimming at the pool. It was cold yet we all wanted to go swimming out on Wednesday. Lavascio was chasing me in a sort of tag game because I tickled his feet once and he started to chase me. I had fun weaving around people and seeing Lavascio trying to find me after I made a move. This lasted a while for like 15 minutes while he tried to catch me. Lavascio and me had fun though couldnıt catch me.

Jjeanne-Louise Camus

The retreat was hella cool 'cause there were a lot of people I never meet and they are all really cool. The retreat was really fun. On thing that was really cool, was that I played a lot of sports like basketball, football, soccer and volleyball. It was a lot of fun. One thing I didn't like was that one night the seniors took us to a small outdoor church with a large white cross there and I didn't really like it cause Iım not really religious actually Iım not at all. At the church place all we did was say dirty jokes then we went back, it was really stupid. Oh yeah, there was one other cool thing, there was a dance and it was really cool cause a certain someone started talking to me and well know we are talking a lot and it is really cool cause this person is so so cool! To sum it up, the retreat was really cool!

Eric Chehab

This year, the freshmen and sophomores went on a retreat at Camp Cazadero. Well, you see, the retreat was a very memorable experience. My favorite part was playing football in the green, moist, soft, grass. With all my friends by my side, and nothing but fun and a football in the air. The last day, we played a great two hours of football, and a very close and amusing game. With interceptions, fumbles, turnovers, passes, punts, and touchdowns, the game was one to remember. There was a total of about 30 touchdowns and it was always a very close game. We knew nothing was at stake but it felt like we were playing the next superbowl. Maybe it was some simple, determined male bonding, but that's not what it felt like. The fog then turned into water and it was falling down on us. Our faces met the dirt a few times and it wasn't a very pretty sight. But we did not care and we continued to have fun. Our heads were now 100 percent focused and determined. We were ready to win at any and at all causes. But most of all, we were ready to have fun.

Jemma Lopez

I had a wonderful time at the retreat, many things happened when I was there. But the most important or significant thing was that happened to me was that I got know people specially the people I am going to be studying with for the next four years, the "freshmen". I am new in this school and I met some people since school started but not as much people as I wanted to meet. In the retreat I had a cabin in which I was not very comfortable with, I wanted to be with my friends, or the people I usually hang out with but there wasn't any more room in their cabin, anyway after a whole day of having to be with them, we started to talk and talk. We got know each other much better. The same happened with other classmates, we got to know each other much better, and not only the freshmen but also some of the seniors that were there and also teachers. I really enjoyed all the activities we got to do, since I really like Volleyball, I played so much that my arms were so dirty, and all red, the same happened with Jean Louis, we were there for a long time, but then we just sat down and started to listen to music with Allie and some tenth graders (Alex and Dimitri). I thought that was a nice experience, because I remember that before the retreat I didn't talk to people as much as I do know.

Josh Leybin

I don't really have a most memorable experience. I liked the retreat. I played football and hung out with my friends. The retreat was cool. I liked not being at school and being able to have more free time. I guess one of the best thing at the retreat was the pool. I really liked swimming because the water was freezing and there were hot showers in the changing room. Everytime that I got cold I ran to the changing room and took a shower. Also, at the pool we were allowed to dive and most pools don't allow that, so diving was a really nice commodity. The retreat was a fun thing and I wish that it was longer or that we would have another retreat during the year. Um.....uh....yah...well....The retreat was at Camp Cazadero and I still have no idea to where that is. I still liked the retreat. I wish we had went to the other camp in Cazadero. My friend told me about the other camp and it sounded better. Even though the other camp sounded better, this one wasn't horrible and I wasn't at school. It was also nice because I got to swim and do many things that weren't organized by the teachers. The camp was nice but I hope that next year we go to the other camp at Casadero or go to a better place. Yet, now Iım back at school and I wish I was back at camp Casadero.

Yusrah Ben-Halim

My most memorable experience at the retreat was the campfire. It was really cool cause people were all sitting around and it was the first time we were all there to have fun and not sit around and be lectured. I mean it's not like its always bad but it was just a nice change. I also think that being there and playing all those games like Chubby Bunny and the talking game that I donıt remember its name.......... anyway moving right along. Well also the bus ride up was really fun. It was kind of like a roller coaster...the bus almost tilted over numerous times. We also got to watch the Matrix which I have never seen and it was a pretty good movie. The food at camp was not great though. It was also a thing I will never forget because I actually lost weight when I got home because I didn't eat when we were there. Also the team activities..........Mr. Williams was our leader and he was really helpful when we had to do the treasure hunt. My team was called the Fruity Rainbows and we got 3rd place. In general, I am not going to forget this retreat.

Julia Hoy-Sing-Loy

All I have to say about the retreat is some of it was ok, but on the whole it sucked. They kept us up too late and got us up too early, the cabins were crummy and there wasn't enough hot water. And the food was in a category all on it's own (make me gag). But then, I'm a picky eater and I don't like having my day organized completely from the moment get up to the moment I hit the pillow. I can't stand schedules, probably one reason I don't like organized sports.... There was chicken wire for windows and the bathroom door stuck, unlike the back door which the raccoons could open. Some people planted hash in our cabin and a kid broke his collarbone. I missed most of the talent show, but what I saw of it was good, one of the few highlights, I didn't attend the dance, but I head it wasn't much anyway. The freshman's walk the first night kept us out past midnight in a place with a huge cross which made me feel a bit unwelcome while people told perverted jokes and stories with sex as the punchline. Not exactly the best time I've had, but I'm sure other people liked it better.

Eloise DeMil

Through out the time we spent at the retreat, now that I look back, there are many moments that have stuck in my head. I remember the raccoons, and how everyone would get scared and jump out of their seats. They(the raccoons) didn't even budge. They seemed pretty tough. The retreat was a good time to get to know people, because your not stuck in the hall with every one pushing and shoving you, and also sharing cabins brought people closer together(I think). I made some great friends, and became better ones with the friends I'm usually with at school I hope we get to o this again...but maybe in a different location. It was very beautiful though. The sky was very clear so that you could see the stars shining bright, and the trees were big and beautiful. I can also remember the night we sat at the camp fire.

Jonathon Chin

The retreat was a lot of fun, I met new friends and became better friends with the old ones. My cabin consisted of Derrick, Clovis, Livaskio, Jacobo and Eric. Even though we talked a lot, we usually got a lot of sleep. One of my favorite parts of the trip was the football games. It was cool because they had a big field and many people to play with. Another favorite part of the trip was the talent show. My best friend, Derrick went up in front of everyone and without anything planned started freestyle rapping. It was so funny! He should have won first place. The only problem with the retreat was it wasn't long enough. It should have been one day longer. That would have been good. Another problem was the food. The food could have been improved. I didn't really understand the team thing. It was a bit stupid. The relay race was fun but I don't understand how they calculated the points. They should have the points through the cabins, that would have been better. The dance was fun but should have been better planned. In all, the retreat was fun but there are always things to change and improve.

Natasha Bogopolskaya

From Wednesday to Friday the tenth and ninth grade went on a retreat. I wasn't exactly happy with my cabin. As expected the tenth graders were pretty bossy and all they said to us was that we would have our chance next year.
Personally, I think that just because we can treat the ninth graders next year the same way they treated us, doesn't mean that it's still right. Even though I wasn't happy with my cabin as much as I wanted to be, I was with one of my best friends and we got to visit our friends' cabins often so it was okay. What I liked best about the retreat was the teams. I liked the activities that we did, and I liked my team. I was on the Barney Squad, which was actually kind of fun. I got chosen to eat watermelon as fast as I could. That was fun. It was really hot the first day. So anyway, as soon as I was tapped by John, this tenth grader on my team, I started eating the watermelon as fast as I could. Then Martha said that

Zander Ollson

The retreat was a lot of fun for just about everyone. We all we able to enjoy ourselves while interacting with others. We played sports such as football, soccer (where someone broke their collar bone), kung-fu etc… We were also engaged in various activities such as painting, music and various other activities as well. We also worked together on teams, where we did activities in groups such as treasure hunts (or scavenger hunts), IQ testing games, relay races (with water balloon tosses). Everything about the retreat was pretty much enjoyable. We had very nice cabins, that often got very noisy throughout the night. The food was also quite nice: we had burritos and pasta and burgers for dinner, although lunch and breakfast lacked somewhat it the likeable and taste departments. We also had a talent show where people displayed their various talents. Everyone enjoyed the retreat (I know I did). Everything was very enjoyable, all though the weather was not always perfect, we tried to make the best of everything that was offered to us.

Tracy Speigelman

From Tuesday to Friday last week the freshmen and sophomores went on retreat. We ended up at 'Camp Caz' (Cazadero) after a two hour bus ride. I stayed in Redwood, the largest of the nineteen some-odd cabins. The first day was a basic orientation and we were given our 'teams' (I was with Doug, Zach, Alexis, Dylan, Claire, John, Mackenzie and Lauren). The second day we played games and did team activities, the best part was a game of volley ball we had with girls against boys (teams were: me, Ottavia, Alexis, Ali and Christin against Derrick, Clovis, Jakob, Nick and Eric.) We ended up kicking their ass. That night about 11 of us from Redwood stayed up and ate the cookies so generously given to us by Leslie and Kara and drank about a million juice boxes. That was fun. The last day we just packed up and we had the awards ceremony. The only bad part of the whole trip were the complications with drugs and the fact that it rained the last 2 days. Even if the whole place was crawling with teachers and the rules were pretty strict I had a good time.