Our Year 10 students returned to school on Friday after being away for four days at the Catholic youth camp in Ngaruawahia. Students got to participate in many exciting and challenging activities, including, kayaking, bush craft, raft building, amazing race, orienteering, and retreat.
Each group of students also got the opportunity to spend a day at Castle Rock. This amazing rock is a product of the Taupo volcanic eruption. On this rock there were activities such as rock climbing, abseiling and a flying fox which was all the Year 10s favourite.
In bush craft the students got to experience the life of living in the bush. They had to set up a shelter, make a fire and also had to prepare food. In this case, lucky for them, they didn’t have to hunt for their food or eat grubs. All the students got to enjoy pancakes and smores which they were all pretty happy about.
Every morning started off at 6:30 with the students being woken up with the same uplifting wake up tune. After this they all did a little bit of exercise. On the first morning, it was a run. The second morning was Mr Bacon’s sweat on the spot aerobics class. Here he taught the students the ‘getting through a window’ technique and ‘reach for items on the top shelf while pushing a grocery cart’ manoeuvre. These got us laughing rather than sweating. The students also got to enjoy a relaxing and enjoyable night watching the movie ‘Boy’, while they snacked on cookies and hot chocolate.
Throughout their free time at camp, each cabin group had to prepare a skit which was performed on the last night. This finished camp off with a lot of laughs and good memories the students can hold on to throughout their Sancta Maria College journey. This camp was an amazing experience for the Year 10 group, because of all the fun they had with their peers, laughing with each other and at some teachers. Camp Ngaruawahia was a great way for them to escape all the stress of exams that they have had to endure recently.
The theme of this camp was ‘Be not afraid’ and with some of these challenging obstacles, we were really tested to step outside of our comfort zones and experience new things. The students learnt through these challenges that the only real obstacle was themselves and that in order to grow and learn they needed to push themselves. On the last night of camp, there was a Mass celebrated on the field where they all sang hymns with smiles on their faces. The night was truly amazing and we were all so proud of what we had achieved over the week, so it was truly a special time.
Alex Dougherty
