Sense of Belonging
Wisdom, the ability to judge what is true, right or lasting with the sum of knowledge gathered through the ages. Stature, an achieved level or status gained by growth, development or achievement. The Secondary 3 boys from St. Andrew’s Secondary, after braving the Secondary 3 Camp, has finally become boys of wisdom and stature, earning their well deserved right to wear the long pants to school, symbolizing maturity. The Secondary 3 Camp was not easy, and I, a secondary 3 boy from St. Andrew’s Secondary, is going to share with you the laughs, complaints and lessons we experienced in the Secondary 3 Camp.
Many knew the camp was a struggle, and they were right, having to get away from the luxuries and comforts of their bed and breakfast to rough it out in the camp, it was not easy, but everything we did, had a lesson to it. For the first activity, I and my class were split up into groups, required to do an activity, which was to catch or collect a few animals, insects, and dry plants. This taught us teamwork, trust, the importance of communication and that planning was important, as the other groups set out to do the required tasks, I told my group to stay behind, and plan about how we are to do these tasks. My groupmate, Jeremy Au, was experienced in catching frogs, and voiced out to let us know, therefore we put him in charge of catching the frog, and just like that, my other groupmates volunteered themselves into what they were to do, and soon we were well spread out and knew what to do. As we were doing the tasks, we kept talking to each other, telling each other if that certain item was found, or if help was needed finding it. The task was finished well within our time limit, with everything found, while other groups came back with multiple of the items and some items unfound. With those lessons learnt, we breezed through other tasks very easily, for example, with trust, my groupmates managed to balance our friend on a string other groupmates were tightly holding onto, with communication, we managed to lift a bucket of water, standing one meter away with nothing but two strings, and many other seemingly impossible tasks, and before we knew it, it was lunch time.
The food was not too bad, but it was certainly not very good either, but we were hungry, and edible is all we cared about. Amazingly, even in eating, there was a lesson we all could learn. As the day gone by, soon everything we looked forward to was the ‘not too bad but not very good’ meals we have, and just like eating, bath time was not very good either, and even taught us the same lesson. With around two hundred boys and around thirty bathrooms and thirty minutes bath time, everyone was rushing to get clean, and with all the sweat and mud we have gone through throughout the day, not bathing is not an option. Standing in a line outside a smelly and dirty bathroom only to have a quick one minute bath which is hardly even enough time to dry ourselves before we change into our clothes is something we do not usually do at home, but it was needed, and we all looked forward to it, and just like eating and bathing, sleeping was not very good either, and even taught us the same lesson. In a stuffy tent, on a thin layer of sheet between us and grass and holding way more people in a tent than supposed to, sleeping was torturous, but once again, we all looked forward to that good day’s rest. In all three daily necessities, we learnt to be grateful for the little things and to enjoy the little things.
Day after day, I and my class have been seeing boys from other classes walk by with mud all over them, we all knew that the dreaded mud run was nearing, and it would soon be our turn, we all feared it, it was disgusting, none of us wanted to go. As we trekked into the forest for our mud run, we all had that disgusted look on our faces, the mud seemed to get wetter and thicker as we trekked deeper, soon after, a very heavy rain started pouring down. Strangely enough, the deeper into the forest we got, the wetter and thicker the mud got, the heavier the rain got, the wider our smiles all got. Knowing this is an experience you shared with your classmates, knowing this is an adventure like nothing you have ever had, this is something you would enjoy. The mud soon got so thick and so dirty it was black in colour, and as we stepped into it, our shoes will sink in, and many would have difficult times pulling out their legs, and class mates would take the initiative to pull them out for him. Some would slip and fall, splashing mud onto their butts or faces, we all shared the laughter, and helped him up, some just simply embraced the mud and splashed it on themselves and on others. Our instructor took a detour and trekked into the brown river, where we communicated about what was under the river that could hurt us, cautioning each other about sharp branches. Some started scaring each other, some screamed, some laughed, some were just too busy worrying about what was under the ocean, but ultimately we all had fun. After we were done with the river, we went back on the narrow thick black mud path, but we were stopped with the slow movement of girls in front of us climbing a slippery hill. After about three minutes, the class was all seated down on the mud, pushing each other into the mud, cracking jokes and enjoying the view of the girls in front of us. We learnt that no matter how dreadful a task is, we can complete and enjoy it, as long as we are with our well treasured classmates. This is what I call quality time.
After the mud run we all gathered together in the campfire for a long performance the instructors have planned out for us. We entered ourselves in competitions, and showed off the class cheers we have been practicing during the past three days. We really enjoyed ourselves, and felt the sense belonging to our school and class.
After the three days of hardship and torture, we built up a bond with our cohort and our class, we have together grown into men of wisdom and stature, and we are now one family unbroken.
-Soo Ee Ter
Index 32
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