Community Courses:
Catilleja School Sophomore Class Retreat

What do you get when you take a Castilleja sophomore class to Pinnacles National Monument for four days of rock climbing and hiking, to discuss trust and leadership? A whole lot of energized and empowered teenage girls who really need a shower!

The retreat, which happened the first week of October 2004, offered just such a combination, and with great success. Expanded to four days, the newly revamped sophomore retreat now offers Castilleja students a true outdoors leadership experience. In answer to the theme: “Women Learning, Women Leading,” the activities on this trip have been designed to bring students to focus and reflect on different approaches to leadership, and in contexts that challenge them to step out of their “comfort zone.”

Although students were encouraged to “lean into the uncomfortable,” all aspects of the retreat were reinforced by the motto of “Challenge by Choice.” The retreat was run by GirlVentures (http://www.girlventures.org), a non-profit organization from San Francisco that specializes in wilderness trips for young women. This terrific organization is entirely run by women, and the instructors are experienced outdoor-educators dedicated to empowering young women. Accompanying the sophomores were their fearless and adventurous class advisors, Aurelie Bordet and myself.

Since camping is not permitted inside Pinnacles Monument, our “base camp” was located just outside the park in a private campground surrounded by beautiful California oaks and golden hills. In this semi-wilderness setting, we encountered deer, coyotes, wild pigs, a bobcat, and even a tarantula! The trip included fun games and activities, a full day of hiking through scenic rock formations, another day of rock climbing, as well as time to relax and spend time getting to know each other at around the campsite. The class was divided into 4 groups, with each group consisting of two advisories and two GirlVentures instructors. Group discussions explored what it means to be a “leader,” the various styles of leadership, and how group dynamics benefit from such variety. Students identified and characterized their own leadership style and how their particular qualities can be effective in different group situations. Students were encouraged to take leadership roles in the day’s activities, coordinating wake-up call, meal preparation and clean-up, as well as organizing aspects of the hikes and rock climbing.

As an essential counter balance, activities also explored the topics of trust, passive and assertive behaviors, as well as healthy approaches to conflict resolution. As part of our day hike in Pinnacles, students took a 90-minute “sola” to journal and reflect on their own (apart from their group). On our last evening, students and instructors put on a hilarious talent show full of silly skits, funny songs and original poems, all in some way related to the experiences of the retreat.

As with anything new, there was some apprehension about how well this retreat would actually go. The organization running it was new to Castilleja, the location and activities were different, and we were committing ourselves to 4 days in a remote location. As class advisors, Aurelie and I had worked closely with GirlVentures to shape the experience to meet our goals of providing a significant outdoor leadership experience, while still allowing the girls to retreat and have fun with each other as a class. From what we observed and from the feedback from the students, the retreat was a terrific success. A parent recently commented that this retreat was “definitely the right retreat at the right time for my daughter,” while another added that it was also good timing for the girls in their evolution as a class.”

On our bus ride back, several students admitted to me that they hadn’t really expected to have such a good time on the retreat, and that they were really surprised by how much they had enjoyed it. In their evaluations, the class was overwhelmingly positive about the experience and offered constructive feedback on how we might refine it for next year. We are looking forward to an even better retreat next fall!

Here are some student comments on the retreat:

“I loved it when we got to circle and complimented every single member of our group: very cool and powerful.”

“I got to know some of my classmates a lot better than I had known them previously. I felt really good about climbing to the top of the hardest climb, especially because I didn’t expect to climb to the top of any of them. It gave me more confidence in myself.”

“It got to know a lot of people a lot better—the smaller groups were effective in this way. It was definitely a ‘bonding experience’.”

“No stress, it was fun and relaxing. I loved it! Strangely… I really liked being dirty!”