Camaraderie begets connection, and connection begets community. Such camaraderie is sprouted from the confluence of different classes during events such as the Freshmen and Sophomore Retreat, and such camaraderie is crucial in coaxing the starry-eyed freshmen into a comfortable countenance.
To these trembling freshmen, high school is the start of something blatantly foreign, and there is no better group of people to institute fresh ideas in, such as the building of community, than the pleasantly ignorant. Thus, through perils and pebbles, the Second Day Of School Freshmen and Sophomore Retreat tradition was struck about into being and continues to march forward, ever vigorously sweeping a congenial sense of belonging into the hearts of all in its wake.
“I hope, for the ninth graders, that it makes them feel comfortable right away, right out of the gate, and that they have a sense of the spaces in upper school,” Mrs. Guldin, Grade 10 Coordinator and history teacher, said. “And for the tenth graders, I hope it gives them that sense of leadership right away, that they have this chance to kind of show the ropes to ninth graders and make them feel welcome.”
Retreats for upper school students have been quite a dandy for just about fifteen years. What, then, do these Sophomore-Freshman fripperies consist of, and how does it produce such a profound effect on its participants?
According to Alyssa Ledezma ‘26, “the retreat calmed me down and maybe even erased some of the concerns I had for the new year.”
The retreat in former years was an overnight affair, but was dwindled down into an event of a mere three hours, for pajama-partying year after year with adolescents was a rather harrowing activity for the teachers, who had the added disadvantage of scarcely knowing their pupils’ names. Mrs. Guldin explained how the objective of introducing the sophomores to the freshmen can be achieved just as well “with some fun here and without having to sleep on the floor.”
The modern Freshman-Sophomore Retreat was whittled to a start with a scavenger hunt spanning the entirety of the school grounds. Teams of teachers and their assigned hench-people prowled through The Barstow School in search of various places and signs, and announced their findings to the phone application Goosechase, which Freshman and Sophomore deans, Ms. Zimmerman and Mrs. Guldin, were attending to in the Auditorium.
After the scavenger hunt, peers gathered in a circle around the senior circle and were each given forty-five seconds of advice on any question or concern anyone had. It took around forty-five minutes to make it all the way around the circle.
The administration provided popsicles for everyone to enjoy. The faculty then set out pizza for the sophomores and freshmen, and they enjoyed their meals on the patio. Afterwards, some students indulged in a few games of basketball.
Thus, through various activities and schemes of the such for various grades and classes all the much, The Barstow School unites into a single, throbbing heart.
