Going away for college and leaving home can be a scary part in someone’s life. For incoming freshmen at Stockton, the experience doesn’t have to be as intimidating. Stockton Outdoor Adventure Retreat (SOAR) is a two-night, three-day program for incoming freshmen that sign up early enough. This summer, the program ran from August 25th to August 28th at the YMCA Camp Ockanickon.
After moving into the dorms and saying goodbye to family and friends, the students went to an auditorium to get shirts, a bandana with our tribe color, a backpack with our tribe color, and various other things that would help throughout the trip. Every person was assigned a tribe and a color that they should stay with for the whole trip. The tribes were comprised of people with the same major or similar majors and 4 Talons, or leaders of the tribe. After going through a few icebreakers and mind games, we were ready for the buses to take the tribes to the destination. After 45 minutes the groups arrived on the buses and everyone gathered their belongings and went to set up the cabin.
The next three days were jammed pack with events for everyone to do. Team building was a huge component to the retreat. Every day there would be at least 2 team-building exercises. These activities could range from climbing onto high obstacles in the sky to making a simple tribe chant. On the retreat there were also a lot of activities based on how to make friends. These activities ranged from games to meet new people and be silly to simple icebreakers to remember everyone’s name.
Overall the retreat was a good experience and taught the freshmen that attended how to open up, make new friends and how to be apart of a team. I’m happy that I was able to go to SOAR and learn valuable skills that will help me throughout college. My favorite part of the experience was conquering my fears and jumping off one of the high obstacles. It made me feel so much more confident in myself. I think that the Office of Event Services, the group who helped make this possible, did a great job and hopefully they continue this retreat so more freshmen can enjoy it.