Our School Mission is “Men of wisdom and stature, in favor with God and man” but in this case it was boys of wisdom and stature. That was what I thought the camp was based on besides learning survival skills, having discipline and fun. The camp bonded me and my classmates together. I, a fellow Secondary 3 student who participated in the camp, am going to share with you the lessons, values and the trials we had to go through in the camp.
The camp was indeed a test, of some sort, that tested us if we could work together as a team to solve and overcome the obstacles that stand in our way. The first activity was the Nature Discovery Hunt. We had to find specific objects on the list that were around the campus of Camp Christine. We were all split up into small groups of 8 to 10 people. I and my team set out not knowing which of the objects we should start to hunt for first. We walked out into the open field of the campus searching for the hidden items. Someone spotted a cricket, which was one of the items on our list. As the cricket was quite small in size, about two times the size of an ant, we had a bit of difficulty in catching it. We worked together as a team and we successfully captured the cricket. Almost the same thing happened for the two frogs that we caught. We all then separated in smaller groups of 2 to 3 people to look for the other items on the list. Me and my friend saw a lizard that had the abilities of a chameleon and I decided to catch it to get more points for my team. With my friends help, after failing for 4 times with perseverance I caught it on my 5th Try. We all gathered back at the Olave Hall to make a map of where we found everything.
With Teamwork, we managed to get through almost all of the other tasks with no problem at all. We had completed the tasks that seemed like there was nothing that could overcome it but with teamwork, determination and perseverance, all things are possible. Before we knew it, it was lunch time. The food was better than I expected as the Primary 5 camp I went through left a bad impression in me on camps. I had to say that camp food was as good as or better than the food we eat everyday but then came the nights that we had to spend in tents. We had to forget the luxuries of beds and sleep on the floors of the tents. It was not entirely bad because I and my tent mates got ‘closer’ to each other.
I thought that the last two activities made us bond and work together as a class the most. The Nature Rumble really made the ‘Man’ in us come out as there was an abundance of mud everywhere. The mud was covering our shoes entirely and we even had to cross a muddy river which was up to our waist. As there were hunter traps and no visibility at all through the water, we had to communicate and tell the people behind us about the location of traps and obstacles in the water and the worst part was that it rained twice while we were in there. The final activity was Rafting. It made us brainstorm together to think of a good way to design and build the raft. We had to listen to each other and help out one another while tying the wooden sticks and rubber tubes together. We had successfully made a raft that could stay together in one piece. Testing the raft was a satisfying experience as I could have never done this before and knowing that I have friends that go through thick and thin with me.
During the campfire, every class needed to say their cheer. Our class 3ST had an amazing cheer that made us win best cheer. That really gave me a sense of belonging to this class and the school. After this grueling experience, we have matured into men of wisdom and stature and not just boys.
Justin Leong ( 20 ) 3ST
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