Retreat to West Virginia
It’s an annual event as the Cardington-Lincoln High School FFA officer team and advisor, Erin Wollett, visit an offsite location for a 3-5 day retreat to prepare for the coming year.
This year, the team traveled to West Virginia, for five days, leaving on July 19. The team stayed in an Airbnb and took a shuttle to the nearby Ace Adventure Resort where they participated in team bonding activities.
The week -long trip allowed for the team to create the POA for the coming year, which defines chapter goals and steps to meet those goals, acting in turn to provide a calendar of events the chapter will follow this year.
Another part of the retreat was writing a list of team expectations that would be motivation for the team to do. These include certain tasks or events during the coming year to build as a team as well as a chapter. This officer team also participated in team leadership development training, facilitated by their advisor.
The team indulged in this training to learn more about each other’s core values, strengths, weaknesses, healthy habits and unhealthy habits. Such training allowed for the team to understand each other better and to connect on a level of camaraderie and respect for one another.
The first two days were dedicated to planning and leadership training while the last three days each had some sort of adventure/team building experience. It was held at a nearby adventure and recreation resort that was located in the New River Gorge National Park.
On the third day the team participated in a mud obstacle course that tested the team’s physical as well as mental strength as they had to climb over walls and go down slides which were caked in mud.
The next day the team set off to the Ace Adventure Resort to build their mental and physical strength to the test yet again. They embarked on one of the world’s most renowned white water rafting experiences in the New River, which is among the oldest rivers as well as one of the top white water rafting destinations in the world.
The team enjoyed a day long rafting trip with a river side lunch prepared by the Ace Adventure guides. They also experienced cliff jumping into the river. The team tackled some wicked class five rapids and tackled some awesome memories that they will carry for the rest of their lives.
On the final day of the retreat, the team departed from the Airbnb for the final time to spend the remainder of their retreat at the Ace Adventure’s water park, where there were many different activities such as 40-foot inflatable ice berg to jump off a zip line, water slides, obstacle courses and so much more. The team spent the day at the water park which brought an end to the retreat.
Special thanks to Heather Clapham and Randy Plowman for driving the second vehicle to and from West Virginia.
The retreat may have lasted only five days, but the memories made and lessons earned by the 2021-2022 Cardington FFA Officer team will last a lifetime.
