Boy where to even start!
This loon lake experience was nothing like the last, lets start there.
This loon lake trip was all about “becoming a leader”, thats how I would best describe it. Memories were made, special bonds were formed and I can speak on behalf of the whole class that went to loon lake; we all learned something new about ourselves and one another. Its an experiment I would relive in a heartbeat
Days in review:
Mon. November 28
Today we arrived early at school to get on the bus and drive to loon lake. I did attempted to sleep but that didn’t work. I forgot my headphones at home so Gwen lent me on of her AirPods. Once we arrived we drove right into learning.
This is where the fun begins
Stared with a introduction of all the valuable members of “Pinnacle Pursuits”
For most of the week we were mentored by a kind man named Jonathan Willcocks, he is the found of Pinnacle Pursuits.
Once intros were completed we got straight into a booklet introduction
Throughout the week we did lots of work in this book. Lots of valuable information was recorded about ourselves, others and leadership. We really had a chance to be vulnerable towards ourselves through all the reflection opportunities.
our first opportunity we had to write in our new booklets was when we completed the “leadership assessment inventory” and started to identify our “key leadership style(s)”.
From both activity i found out that I need to work on; recognizing other peoples contribution and getting more organized, and my key leader ship style is a “challenger”
Then we found a quote that truly resonated with us ⬇️ i chose this a one
Nest we found a partner and asked them “what did they love”, it would go something like this
And then once that was complete you would write down your strengths, the point was not to be humble or think you’re being self absorbed but to just think about what you are sure your good at.
That was a strange activity. I dont really know what I truly Love when I think about it but when the question is coming at you over and over again giving you barley anything to think of an answer you start remembering the strong you have attached on certain things, places,, people memories etc. I have found from since reflecting that I remember more of what other people love rather then me. It’s strange and feels wrong, o feel like I should know myself best out of everyone I know but I seem To know the least about myself.
with all that information we were off for another delicious meal and off the bed and getting into the mindset and body for the another day we would have tomorrow….
Daily reflection:
Although this hasn’t even been a full day I have already leaned of much about my self an my peers. I enjoy having the opportunities to contribute to the conversation/debate at hand and share a new perspective.
Tue. November 29
Woke up bright and early for an another amazing meal! Their cooking staff do not disappoint.
We stared today down at the lakes edge and did an “i see you circle” and splashed some natural lake water in our faces to wake us up! Boy did that give me enough energy to push me through the rest of the day
Once we were all refreshed and awake we played this “game” (I put game in quotations because I would not consider this activity a game, it was an experience in itself)
Then we created a poster
The requirements were as followed:
- has to have your chosen quote
- Has to have 30% of the poster balance for comments
- Has to have colour
- Optional: incorporate the things you love and your strengths.
That’s it. With those creative constraints I came up with this.
through out the week we would write positive things, observations and stuff on them. It was so heartwarming to read all the kind things people have said about you at the end of the week. Really bright a smile to your face.
After lunch we had an afternoon full of activities, we were separated into two groups. While one group was going rock climbing the pother group would do team building activities, once both of them were done wed switch.
My group first did rock climbing.
Brooke was in my group. We all really got to witness her push herself out of her comfort zone. Me and ines gave her a little support (literally). Definitely a experience to remember.
Overall rock clinging was really fun, but if you weren’t physically climbing and on the wall you got cold.. quickly. And if you were of the wall you finger it’s would completely loose feeling and they would be so sore you needed to use very, single, bit, of your mental and physical strength to stay of the wall! If you want to do rock climbing in the winter (while there is snow on the group) I recommend you go inside.
Once we were done rock climbing we rotated and did a orienteering course. That was fun. We separated into group and had to find clues and destinations throughout camp. I am now a compass pro!
after everyone was done there outdoor activity, we all went back inside to warm up and get into more workbook work.
Inside we did a lot of work understanding and identify our values.
And with all that previously retained information we made a credo.
your credo need to represent you. It need to reflect your value and beliefs, it need to show who you are.
there was a lot of trial and error to this process. You would write it, tell it to someone and they would have to evaluate it and see if it was a true reflection of who you are and then they would give you things to change, sentences to rephrase, words to change, things like that. Then if you were confident energy you would share with the group and everyone would give you there feedback, thoughts and possible changes and then you’d need to consider all that feedback and maybe just change a word or two or maybe rewrite your whole thing.
Once you were confident with you credo you would “publish it”. By publish I mean you would just type it out in a fancy font, out a colour behind it and then set it as you look screen, so you would be exposed to that positive affirmation everyday and you brain would subconsciously pick up on it and then your body would act on it.
in the end this is what I got 🙂 this is who I want To be know for.
Daily reflection:
today was gull of surprises, I didn’t expect it to play out how it did. Learned some new things today and of course, looking forward to another day like this tomorrow.
Wed. November 30
Woke up bright and early as usual and all met up for breakfast! Once breakfast was complete, we regrouped at the high ropes course, not to high rope just yet but too absorb our surroundings, and of course how could we forget about our wake up water splash?! But today instead of g getting splashed with water it was snow. Overnight it had snowed so much! It was crazy but the snow dint stop us from doing anything. it amazing how beautiful the snow can be on the tree canopy in the early morning. While standing under the tree we shared out our goals for the day. (Pretty much Daly affirmations), for Wednesday November 30, my goals for that day were
- i will be open minded
- I will challenge my thoughts and actions
- I WILL STAY IN THE PRESENT!
I think it was very rewarding to set a goal that could be easily met that day.
This afternoon was crazy! So we did the same thing as yesterday (where we were separated in two groups and one group did something while the other group did something else then there’d switch.)
but today we did high ropes and team building.
My group did high ropes first. I was the first person to go up and across. I have lots of experience doing high ropes (in summer camps, field trips etc.) so I was ready and not very scared of the hight, but it always take a second to fully wrap your head around that your that high up the group and all your body weigh can be held up by this one wheel system and a wire.
Keep in mind it was super snowy and I was doing this in converse and jeans.
but I sped through it and it was really fun. And rewarding to push myself to get all the way to the other side.
Thank you fraser for being the paparazzi for high-ropes! Such crazy photography skills you have!
we also got to do this fun thing called milk cart stacking. (It literally what it sounds like) two people would be on belay and there could be as many people as you wanted on the group and they would stack milk cartons and try and put the two people get as high as possible. Apparently the record is 15 or something. But we only made it to 13 or so, really close!
once everyone who wanted to go up went up and challenged themselves on the ish ropes favours e we were off to our next rotation. We past the other group walking up on our way down.
Once we arrived in Panabode (one of the Cabin) guess what we did?…
trust falls!!
Not like that, we all know how trust falls work. YOU DON’T GO BACKWARDS!!!
if was truly the most scariest activity we did during this whole trip.
johno had defiantly done this before because he was a pro! He knew exactly what he was doing.
We stared in pairs, falling from really low close to the group so if your partner were to drop you, you wouldn’t fall that far,
we slowly made our way higher and falling further.
And the farther we fell from the more people we need to support our landing.
It was scary at first but once u go you realize you blew it was out of proportion in your head.
one we were all given a chance to fall we took a huge step up (literally). We all walked outside and each had a chance to fall off and table… well a chair put on top of a table and you would fall backwards and just prey your friends would catch you from falling t your death!
It required every single one of us to make sure the one person falling felt as safe as possible
– two people would be holing the chair still on the tale
– one persons would be keeping the table level and still
– and everyone else would be put into pairs and stand across from there partner and link wrists for a strong landing!
– And Mr.Hughes would be filming 📷
I went first, confidently. It was scary and I doubted that my friends wouldn’t be able to stop me from plummeting to the ground but they pulled through and made me feel safe and secure!
After trust falls was dinner time and then we played this “game” called cross the line, it was also like an icebreaker game. Where johno would ask a questions and if it applied to you then you would stand up and cross the line.
It was crazy how much stuff you dont know about the people you see pretty much everyday and spend so much time with.
Daily reflection:
Today was crazy, and emotional rollercoaster to say the least. I learned so much today about me, my friends and what I am capable of. It was very rewarding pushing my limits and confidently stepping out of my comfort zone.
Thurs. December 1
Today was a little different because today we didn’t have johno “coaching us”.
Also today was our last day!
We stared off the day with an amazing breakfast as usual. And then we went on this amazing hike.
It was beautiful, all around the lake. There was a lovely layer of snow on the ground but it was sinfully cold and quite a bit longer than expected.
After the cold walk we had some time for homework had lunch then we did one last activity rotation.
Our group made our own personal logos first! Its a lot harder then it sounds.
This us what i came up with⬇️
- A tree for growth
- river for flow and how they don’t really follow, they make there own path
- heart because I value a true, real connection
Mrs.Willemse says she would turn them into stickers using her cricket to put on our iPad… its been a couple few weeks now, she must be waiting for everyone to finishes theirs. I bet they’ll turn out super cool.
once we were done with design we were off to Panabode yet again for one more thing in our workbooks.
We look at the power of being in control and scheduled and the value of writing things/tasks down that you have to do rather then remembering and possibly forgetting them in your head.
With that we spend a few solid minutes sorting out our things; adding categorize, rages and how to add due dates for the future, to say the least my things looks aot more “under control”
Once our teams were sorted out, we went on to goal setting.
I feel like Ive spend half my life making goals following the SMART rules:
The SMART rules when applying them to your dreams and goals makes goal setting a lot more realistic. And makes the goals you get be more liking met.
With the SMART rule in mind we created some goals;
three to complete this semester and three to complete this year (2022-2023)
then we made a ”task” using our new things skills
Then we spend a long while reflecting on the week and what we learned and then off to dinner and then we all got cozy and all watched Apollo 13.
We had popcorn and everything 🍿
It wasn’t truely related to anything we did this week but it was a good way to wrap it up, once the movie was over we were all off to bed for our last sleep at loon lake!
Daily reflection:
Today was a lot of reflection, wasn’t half as exciting as all the other days but if was nice to have one more day to just chill not at school.
Fri. December
woke up, ate breakfast and loaded onto the bus.
And then I was off to Australia.
final reflection:
this week was crazy. An emotional rollercoaster, I learned so much about myself and the people around me. I was glad to have a break off of “school” , i do enjoy learning in a different. I think I will continue to challenge to task of “using all the stuff I learned In the real world”. i think thats the hardest of these learning opportunities, because its always so much valuable information through at you all at once and it can get overwhelming very quickly.
But overlooking that it was so much fun, I will treasure the memories I made here forever.
Hannah 🦴🥚🧄🍚🍥🥛