Bethany Cornatzer
McGovern
Life of the Mind
23 September 2015
Soar Blog
Stockton’s Outdoor Adventure Retreat is offered to incoming freshman. One of the perks of attending S.O.A.R. is that students get to move in early. This year’s early move in date was August 25th. When students arrived on campus, they were greeted by a variety of talons wearing different color clothing and accessories. The students soon found out that each color represented a different tribe. After they were assigned their tribe, they could begin moving into their new rooms. Once people finished moving in, they could go have lunch with their parents. Then, everyone was gathered into their tribes. From there the talons had them load their bags onto the bus and head over to say a final goodbye to their loved ones. Next, all of the students were directed outside to do countless ice breakers so everyone could get to know each other. People instantly bonded over having similar majors or other interests in life. When everyone was acquainted they headed off on an hour long drive to camp Ockanickon.
One of the first camp activities this year was a thing called low elements. This is where the tribes split up and mixed with each other to do more ice breakers and team building activities. The game my group excelled at was passing a ball to someone and saying their name as fast as possible. We successfully completed the game in seven seconds! Not only did it unite everyone together, but it was a fun way for us to learn each other’s name. On the second day, everyone learned about leadership and how to get involved on campus. All of the talons told us about the many activities and clubs that they were a part of on campus. It showed students that there are always things to do and you never have to be alone.
Finally, on the last day of S.O.A.R., the students had the chance to do high ropes. This is a suspended obstacle course filled with tasks such as rope bridges and walking across a log. It was a really intimidating course but the students who did complete it felt a great sense of accomplishment.
When S.O.A.R. came to an end, everyone was sad to have to leave and say goodbye to camp Ockanickon. It was over in a blink of an eye and felt like they had just gotten there. However, the students were comforted by knowing that they made new friends and memories that would last for a lifetime. They were now truly ready to start their college experience.