8th Grade Team-Building at Hale

9/22/2014

In a Montrose tradition, the class of 2019 bonds in a day of team challenges.

The 8th grade class began the school year with a day of adventure team-building at Hale Reservation in Westwood. This community building day, a Montrose tradition, allows new and returning students to foster class unity, work on team-building skills and learn more about Montrose School's culture of inclusion.

Previous chaperones have observed the benefits of the outing, reporting that the girls each had a role in completing the day's team-building tasks, and noting the "sweetness of the moment" when they worked together toward a successful finish. Throughout the school year, teachers are able to refer back to the 8th grade class's achievements at Hale Reservation in order to encourage them to work together successfully.

8th grade student Mariel Rosati ’19 shares highlights from the trip in The Looking Glass:

We headed to a game called "Shipwreck," where we had to figure out how to survive if we were stranded on a deserted island. Each group was split into little sub-teams: food, fire, and shelter. This activity was my favorite part of the day, and I was put in the food group along with Meagan Flynn ‘19 and Ayana Murphy ‘19. Emma Dunnington '19 said, "The survival part was my favorite. I caught a fish, which was awesome." Maddie Marcucci ‘19 added, “I was on the fire team, and we got a fire going on the first try! Okay, maybe it was more (tries) than that, but we still got one going and we had a lot of laughs while doing it.”

Next, after surviving a dramatic attack by bees, we ate our lunch and prepared our harnesses for the high ropes course. In pairs, we climbed the intimidating giant ladder. Brooke Harrison ‘19 said, “My favorite part of the day was the ropes course, because in order to get up the giant ladder we had to work together and encourage each other to reach the top.” Another high ropes electives was the giant swing. Ellie Barry ‘19 added, “during the giant swing, we learned team leadership because if we pulled (the rope) too hard the person would fall.”

A tired and dirty, but well-bonded class of girls hauled back on the bus to Montrose at the end of the day. Clare Melley ‘19 commented, “My favorite part of the trip was getting to know the girls in my class better." Julia Convery ‘19 added, “At the end of the day we were tired, but (had) survived being “lost” in the woods.”

I am sure the entire Montrose class of 2019 left Hale Reservation with many memories and a fresh perspective, as well as ideas on how to apply the skills we learned from Hale to other challenges we face in and beyond school.

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