Grades 6-8 Retreat: Winaukee 2023
In September of 1995, GUS Upper School Students in grades 6-8 took a beginning of the school year overnight retreat as one group for the first time. That trip was to Camp William Lawrence located in Tuftonboro, NH. The tradition continues but the venue has changed. This year the much-anticipated trip had 73 GUS students and 17 faculty members make the trek to Moultonborough, NH to Camp Winaukee for two days and one night chock full of activity.
Camp Winaukee, a boy’s summer sports camp, is nestled on Moultonborough Neck on the northern part of Lake Winnipesaukee. GUS has been bringing upper school students to this beautiful location since 2010. The camp offers everything we could possibly want for our short but very packed stay. Once the students arrive, after a roughly 2:45-minute bus ride, they are greeted by the beautiful blue water of Lake Winnipesaukee just steps away. This year, with temperatures 90+ degrees and thick humidity, the cool water was an awesome sight and incredibly inviting.
The faculty and students each checked into one of the 13 lakeside cabins and then came back to the center of camp to gather for their first activity, lunch. Upon entering the dining hall, each member of the GUS community selects a popsicle stick, randomly numbered to indicate which of the 12 tables they will eat at. This intentional tradition, which precedes every meal, ensures that at each of the four meals served over the two days, every community member will break bread with a different group of people. One of the main goals of this retreat is for all students and faculty to get to know each other, not just in the classroom, but as individuals who make up our community. From which bus you travel on to where you sit, sleep, and play is designed to get each student and faculty member familiar with as many different people as possible. And there is always plenty of opportunity to spend time with those already familiar as well.
After lunch, the entire group gathered for some name games and then began participating in group activities. There were seven different activities, spread over 8 activity periods, in which all students participated. The groups were randomly made from across grade levels and switched after each 45-minute activity. Swimming, kayak/paddleboarding, ninja course, board games, arts and crafts, field games, and gaga ball/four square were the scheduled activities. After dinner on Thursday night, the students enjoyed nearly two hours of dancing, ball playing, board games, and hanging with friends, before the traditional campfire. At the campfire, students are encouraged to lead the group in song, stories, and dance. As usual, this group did not disappoint. Many students, groups of students, and faculty members took turns standing in front and leading the group. After the hour gathered around the fire came the difficult chore of getting 73 middle school-aged kids to get to sleep. Reminding all students that a ‘happy and fun chaperone’ is a well-rested chaperone, may have helped, but in time this tired group of boars got to sleep.
Every year, one of the highlights of the trip is waking up early on Friday morning. More and more students do this each year, for the opportunity to sit quietly on the beach, just several steps from their east-facing cabins, to watch the sunrise over the small mountains in the distance. It is truly a magnificent sight.
After more activity periods on Friday morning, the group packs up their belongings, tidies up their cabins, and prepares for departure. After an early pizza lunch, they board the buses for the trip back to Beverly Farms knowing many more of their schoolmates' and teachers’ names than they did just 28 hours earlier on the ride to Winaukee.
Much was accomplished on this annual trip. Painted faces, board game champions, kickball victories, successful trips over the ninja course, a quiet talk by the lake with a new classmate or teacher, a new friend, a red popsicle tongue, a newly crafted bracelet, a first-time paddleboarding, a new dance move, or discovering which teacher snores the loudest, there was something for everyone. There were also plenty of smiling faces on young and old campers alike. And they are already looking forward to next year.