Some of the comments made about this year’s upper school retreat: “Best ever.” “My kids loved it.” “The House leaders really stepped it up.” “The skits were amazing!” “My daughter came home feeling like she is an important part of this school.”
At the beginning of the school year, all of our 7th – 12th grade students board buses and head north to spend three days together. The retreat is instrumental in setting goals, orienting new upper school students, and building unity among the school’s six houses (click the link below or watch the video to learn more about our House program).
House governor and 9th grade teacher, Anna Gibson, had this to say:
“This year proved to be another meaningful and enjoyable upper school retreat at Quaker Hill Conference Center in McCall. Amidst creative initiation ceremonies and fierce Capture the Flag games (of whom the most enthusiastic player was current Headmaster David Goodwin!), the students had the opportunity to hear from their new headmaster, Kirk VanderLeest, and 
new upper school dean, Chris Browne, as they addressed this year’s House theme of ‘The Hope in our Brokenness.’ It was a privilege to watch students respond to the exhortations they were given, and love and serve each other in a way we haven’t really seen before. To see a house president staying an hour after dinner to sweep the dining room floor is to see true servant leadership in action; nothing is more convincing of the nature and purpose of House. The retreat reflected a new chapter for the house program, which seems to have shifted from the initial phase of creation to a phase of deepening, solidified commitment and intentionality.”
At its core, House is about students caring for and mentoring each other, and this year the House leaders worked extremely hard to set an example for their members. Serving and sacrificing as Christ did, even in the face of our current “me first” culture, is contagious among the students as they see this displayed by their student leaders. We as a school are thankful for the many hours of work and sacrifice that these leaders put in, and all the ways they bring unity to our school.
