Freshman Retreat: Trojans Building Up Trojans

by: Sam Hipp, 9th grade

Sam (right) and his classmate, Benton, at the Freshman Retreat.

Camp Butter and Egg was one of the best experiences I’ve had at Saint James School. The class of 2027, along with our peer leaders, went to Camp Butter and Egg in Troy, Alabama. We had so much fun with all of the activities including fishing, canoeing, team-building activities, and ziplining. We all had a great time from the bus ride there to the bus ride back. We left at 8:00, wondering what they had planned for us at Camp. When we arrived, we were immediately split into our advisory groups. First, we played a game where we matched different papers with letters on them into categories. For example, a town we had visited or a food we liked. We also played a game where we tried to make a tennis ball touch everyone's hand in the shortest possible time.

Students participated in team-building activities like the zip line.

After a short break, our advisory split into 3 groups and we played more games versus each other. One of my favorites was a memory game where we had to remember how different random objects were set up. One or two people per group would go up to a curtain, which would be lifted to reveal about 10 items in a random place. We tried to describe it to our groups and whoever got it right the fastest would win. We played lots of other games, which were very fun! For lunch, we had a burger, beans, chips, applesauce, and a very good brownie.

Students enjoying the paddle boats at Camp Butter & Egg.

After lunch, we all went to the zipline and the tree trek course. My group did the tree trek course first. We had to walk across a bridge, hang on to ropes to get across a line, and at the end we went on a zipline to get down from the course. It was very fun, but I preferred the zipline course.

There were three ziplines. The first one was not very long, but a good first zipline to prepare for the rest of the course. The second one was through the forest and was pretty fun. My favorite one was next, which was the one that went over the lake. It was exhilarating, to say the least, and I really enjoyed it. After that, I went back to get all of my gear off and went down to the lake. Since all the canoes were taken, one of my friends and I went up to the lodge for a little bit. After some time, we went to play volleyball, which was very fun. Sadly, this was the last thing we did and we got on the buses to go back to STJ. This trip was one of the best I have ever been on.

Everything from the team bonding games, zip lines, tree trek course, and volleyball was amazing. I would love to go back someday. I will never forget the memories I made and the things I learned.

#wearesaintjamesschool