“The Peace of Wild Things”: 8th Grade Wyvern Retreat
Last week I was fortunate to accompany the 8th grade class and their other fearless chaperones on a three-night Wyvern Retreat to YMCA Camp Piomingo in Otter Creek Park, just southwest of Louisville. In other years, the 8th graders travel to Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in Oneida, Tennessee for a week of backpacking. The pandemic presented health and safety challenges for us in planning the same type of Wyvern Retreat; however, the creativity and problem-solving skills of our team kicked into gear! Parents eagerly transported their students to and from the camp experience, and students enjoyed three nights of solo-tent camping in a beautiful, natural setting with the added fun that comes along with being at a summer camp facility. The core mission of the St. Francis School Wyvern Retreat Program is to conduct a safe and structured educational experience designed to inspire self-esteem, self-reliance, concern for others, and care for the environment. The program is intentionally designed to allow students the opportunity to meet challenges and move beyond self-imposed limitations through responsible risk-taking and hands-on involvement. Similar to the Big South Fork trip, students took ownership of cooking for themselves, menu planning in advance, and learning how to cook on small, portable camp stoves. They worked together to set up and tear down camp, weathering cold temperatures the first night and taking down camp in steady rain the final morning of the trip. It wasn’t all hardship -- there was a great deal of laughter and fun, too. The pipeline slide in the pitch-black [...]