Captains' Corner

Last Thursday, the whole of the senior cohort gathered at the Boarding House for a jampacked two days, filled with brainstorming, planning, reflecting and a whole lot of fun. 

On the first day, Mr D explored the power of our mindset, and the importance of embracing 'top drawer thinking', helping us to step into our senior year with a positive view, open to the endless possibilities that this year may bring. 

We dreamed big with Dr Cousins and Mr McPherson, where the sky was the limit and we were encouraged to write down any and all ideas for the school that came into our minds.

We enjoyed leading a session where the seniors got to know each other on a deeper level with an activity called 'If you really knew me', and playing the game called Spies. Everyone was told there were five spies among them, who were trying to sabotage their efforts to build origami flowers. In reality, there was one spy, shoutout to Sonia, but 12 people ended up in jail for their suspicious behaviour. Through this game we highlighted the importance of trust, and the idea that if we look for the bad we will find it, so, upon reflection we saw the importance of shifting our mindset.

In the afternoon we painted our locker room murals, cooked some delicious pizza which we shared with the Senior Leadership Team, and, to finish the night we played some board games, with the game chameleon being a crowd favourite (we would highly recommend it).

On Friday, guest speaker Ben Russell worked with us to determine what kind of senior cohort we wanted to be, and who we wanted to become as individuals in our final year of school.

Chloe and Cadence, our Sport Captains had us building marshmallow and pasta towers, competing against each other in relays, which featured inflatable sharks, and led an amusing game of volleyball in the pool.

To finish the camp we came together in the Upper LRC where each of the seniors received a journal, personalised with their name and a note from their captains. We asked each of them a series of reflective questions, giving them time to write the answers individually in their book. Some questions looked back at their past, and some looked towards the future, specifically what they are going to bring to our cohort, and who they wanted to become. 

Our favourite part was the last activity, where we passed around our books, and everyone wrote a positive message about each person, something they admired, thanking them for something they had done, or simply wishing them luck for the year ahead. 

Our hope is that when this year gets challenging, we will have these journals to look back on, reminding us of our goals and who we are, and that we have an entire community of seniors who love, appreciate and support each other. 

We are so grateful to Mr D and Ms Mills for organising and running leadership camp and cannot wait to see the positive contributions our cohort will make to our school community.