🌲Hello and welcome back to the forest of learning! In today’s post, I will be reflecting on an exciting Learning Advance that I was lucky enough to participate in from February 14th – 17th. This trip included both the PLP 8 and 9 cohorts. The advance took place in Loon Lake and it was a lovely opportunity to improve the strength of our PLP team! I was able to effectively collaborate and build stronger bonds with my peers and also make memories that I will cherish for a long time. I am incredibly grateful for being able to be a part of this advance because I learned a lot from this experience and had a lot of fun! While on the trip, we also worked on completing an eBook (you can find it near the bottom of this post) that will hopefully bring this advance to life! So, if you would like to learn more about it, keep reading!🌲

Before we get into the reflection, I wanted to talk a little bit about how I felt before going on the trip:

To be honest, I was a bit worried to go away. Especially with the pandemic, there was a pretty high chance of something going wrong, and, as someone who loves to plan, it was hard to mentally prepare myself for going on this advance. I feel as though since the start of the pandemic it has been especially hard to feel comfortable around large groups of people. There were many things I was afraid of; “What if I get terrible cabin mates that won’t allow me to sleep?” “What if I am extremely tired the whole time because I like to go to bed early?” “What if my shoes get wet and it makes me cold the whole day?” “What if I get blisters and it hurts to do physical activities?” “What if I get sick?”  etc… getting caught in the space of ‘What if’ is pretty scary- and never really that productive either. Not to mention, I had not been away on an overnight field trip since fourth grade! That was five years ago! So much has happened since then, and it took a lot of bravery to participate in this event. 

That being said though- I was also so excited! Going to a new place with my friends and the PLP team, making memories, laughing and having a fun time at the lake was something I was really looking forward to. Looking back, my worries were completely relevant and fair and although sometimes it feels as though they hold me back, they also ensure that I am prepared for the worst or, in other words, “Beginning with the end in mind” as our Habit 2 states. So, that said, let’s get into the actual reflection, shall we?

I recall the first day of the trip… Everyone is was excited- including me of course. I felt prepared and ready to head to school with my luggage knowing that my adventure is waiting ahead. Going to class and seeing my friends was lovely as always. On this day, I felt as though I did well at being proactive and was happy with what I packed. When we got on the bus, it was especially nice to see everyone feeling excited to be on our way.

Now, I don’t want to bore you too much with a complete detailed itinerary and summary of the entire trip, so, if you are interested in seeing what we did, feel free to check out the rough schedule below ⬇️

To start off this first day, when we arrived at the lake, we started off with some activities. We went on a photo walk and to go on our walk we got to use a cool (both figuratively and literally) ferry to go across the lake. After this, we also completed an activity in order to get to know the area a bit. We participated in a scavenger hunt. Then, was the moment most of us had been waiting for: who was going to be in our cabins! I was very happy with my group. I was placed in a small cabin along with five of my friends; Ava, Ariane, Sabrina, Alfie, and Fraser! I was really happy with my cabin mates, especially since it was a source of anxiety that was quickly diminished after receiving the news. We were placed in the “Thunder Inn” cabin which was a lovely place! With that, we got settled in our cabins and had a bit of free time followed by dinner in which we were able to try some lovely lasagna and finally ended the day with an introduction to our advisory groups, some card playing evening fun, and sleep!

On day one, I found that I had a splendid time during evening fun playing cards with my friends! It was pretty entertaining to see Alicia get competitive in Amonia, and see Ariane get excited too! I was able to observe my peers in a relaxed setting away from school which was really refreshing. As for the lowlights, I had a pretty terrible sleep the first night. This is because, due to an incident in another cabin, we needed to rearrange our sleeping arrangements to accommodate for another person to sleep in our cabin- which meant, a lot of shuffling at around 12 at night. After getting settled though, I found it hard to sleep as I was pretty anxious and it was hard to calm my mind down. I am proud of our cabin for being able to adapt in this scenario, however I wish I could have been more adamant on getting sleep since I felt tired the following day.  

When day two rolled around, I was pretty tired from the previous night. I had a lovely morning conversing with my friends in the cabin since they are a great bunch of people. We were greeted with a delicious breakfast and also participated in our first “DI sweat box” followed by  a fun activity in which we made some shelters in the forest! Lunch was great too: burgers and some of the best fries I have had in a long time. For evening fun that night I headed to the Olympic Lounge and watched some figure skating along with my friends Nolan, Alfie, and Fraser. I had a lot of fun on this day and was met with a well deserved amazing sleep. On this day, I was especially proud of the way I was able to practice communication within my DI team and also while building the shelters with my friends- it was a good day. 

On day three we had a pretty exciting last full day! Of course, amazing food as always in the morning, then a PLP 9 learning block where we worked on our 7 Habits activities, followed by a delicious lunch in which we were assigned seating, then some fun learning rotations. In the rotations, I spent the first half with my DI team, and the second half participating in some awesome Stellar Play fun! We participated in Forest Laser and Battle Archery! It was okay.. It seemed cool in theory, however I feel that in forest laser, it was a bit difficult to figure out how to use the guns, and, because of that I found it significantly less exciting. In archery I was especially disappointed because I was excited to do it since I was actually interested in it, however, I was feeling pretty terrible at that time and it affected my ability to participate which made me feel sad. During dinner we sat next new people which encouraged me to branch out and talk to people I wouldn’t usually talk to. This night, for evening fun, we went to the Gym and watched “Back to the Future” – a classic that I had never watched before. 

I think day three may have been my least favourite day. Because I felt unwell during the Stellar Play fun, I let it dictate my mood for the rest of the day and made me feel as though I hadn’t been the best version of myself I could have been. I didn’t allow myself to get out of that headspace so I found this day to be pretty mentally and physically draining. But, that said, I feel that this is the day I also learned a lot.  I enjoyed talking to new people during lunch and dinner, and I had a lot of fun watching back to the future- which, I personally was not a huge fan of the movie, but I understand the hype now. My DI team was productive and collaborated well, and I was still proud of the way I acted even if I didn’t feel my best the whole day! 

The final day had come.. day four! On day four, we had breakfast and then packed up our stuff. This was followed by an exciting game of capture the flag! It was grade 8’s -vs- grade 9s! And guess who won? Grade 9s of course! We are definitely superior. (Not like we were the same as the grade 8’s nine months ago..). Anyways, I had a lot of fun because I was able to goof around and get competitive around my fellow ninth graders. It felt like I was in elementary school again and I had a great time- probably one of the biggest highlights of the trip honestly. After lunch we went on the bus home and I had a really great conversation with my friend and that I valued a lot. I was exhausted, and it felt surreal to be back at school again- but, it was perfectly timed with a nice long weekend and I felt pretty relieved to have come home having had a great trip.

 

⬇️Throughout the entirety of the trip, we completed this eBook that is intended to bring this experience to life! I had so much fun creating new memories here, and I hope you can gather that from this book! ⬇️

Why was this a learning ADVANCE?

I think everyone was a bit confused at first as to why the PLP teachers called this event an advance, even me at first, but, after going on the trip (and reflecting!), I think a learning advance is a suitable name for this trip. This trip was more than just a “let’s bring a bunch of kids to a place and let them have fun” –  it was as if we were extending the classroom. We were able to learn in a unique learning environment that allowed us to grow in ways that we couldn’t have done in school. This advance pushed us to adapt to new situations and allowed us to experience an opportunity to grow as an individual and a team. We are, quite literally, advancing our learning- and for that, I must commend the teachers for coming up with the name, it does fit quite perfectly.

🌲Looking back, this trip was really nice. I genuinely learned a lot from this opportunity and made so many great memories here. It definitely wasn’t perfect, but I had a lovely time, and it was jam packed with experiences that I am so grateful for being able to participate in. I learned a lot about myself and how I react in situations, tried so many new things, and overall just learned a lot. I was able to be around my peers outside of a school setting, which, I feel has made a significant difference in the strengthening of our PLP team. I am so proud of myself, and so thankful to everyone who was able to make this Learning Advance possible, because, it truly was a wonderful time.🌲

As always, thank you for watching me grow in the forest of 

🌲learning🌲

 

— P.S. the food was absolutely delicious! I already thanked the chefs there, but, I still feel that they deserve some recognition! It takes a lot of skillage to make large amounts of food consistently taste delicious and I know it was a highlight for many on the trip :3