Camp Manitou: Yet Another Great Experience

     This past week, from Wednesday morning until Friday afternoon, 200 grade 9s, 75 grade 11 and 12 leaders, and multiple teachers took off for the annual Camp Manitou trip. 

Every year, it is a school tradition to bring the grade 9s to camp, where they are counselled by their respective grade 11 and 12 leaders. For these 3 days they spend at camp, they are able to create bonds with both students in their grade, and their leaders whom guide them through the trip. With around 200 grade 9s attending this camping trip, things can tend to get quite hectic, but with a great choice of leaders and a good teaching staff attending, Camp Manitou is yet another success. 

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     Camp Manitou preparations begin the year before it actually occurs. Students in grade 10 and 11 who are interested in being a leader for the following year are asked to attend many meetings and fill out forms before the end of the school year. When results come back to the students, they are asked to attend countless meetings and events which can help build their leadership skills and their understanding of what it means to lead. 75 leaders were selected from last year, and this means there was a lot of leadership skills that have been developed for these students over the course of the summer and the end of the school year. Having meetings and events  for leaders is a great way to encourage them to continue being a leader. 

 

     Led by Ms. Pasquini, this year at Camp Manitou, the students in grade 9 were set to do many different activities which would build their team working skills and to create bonds among each other. A great way to develop these things is by getting students to engage in fun activities which they enjoy completing, and by having encouraging leaders, they can learn to love new things and to continue doing new activities. Many of these activities include different sports, rope climbing, Chaminade trivia, the annual lip sync contest, and the countless cheers and chants which cabins created together. 

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     Though there were some obstacles this year, such as stormy weather (causing a huge downpour during outdoor activities), students at camp continued with their activities and still managed to have a great time. However, following the rain, the next 2 days at camp were beautiful and filled with sunshine. This was a great encouragement for the students to create amazing lip syncs to enter into the lip sync competition, which is the highlight of camp. Congratulations go out to the “God Squad” for winning this year! At the end of the day, Camp Manitou was a great experience and next year's camp is already highly anticipated. Will you be at camp as a leader next year?