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By Arya Datta, Molly Garud, Rania Akbar, Evana Baggett, Chandani Patel, Emma Quintal, Neely Shah, Josie Lamb, Hannah Lovett, Charles Upshaw, Graham Hefner and Nate Jones (Introduction to Journalism Class)

From falling four feet in the air to climbing a 10-foot wall, the 71 students in the freshman class experienced exciting activities during their recent retreat at the Hephzibah Children’s Home.

The six home rooms completed stations ranging from peppy cheerleading to balancing on a rope. The ninth-graders learned how to shoot a bow-and-arrow, trust their peers enough to fall backward into their arms and balance a long see-saw by standing on opposite ends.

To make the day more spirited, each home room chose an outfit theme for the day.

Dr. Frank Katz’s home room chose sports team jerseys. Art instructor Anastasia Fink chose neon outfits. Math teacher Mr. Griff Ethridge’s advisory had a USA theme.

Other home rooms went for a solid color theme. Latin teacher Mr. Brian Wells went for a white theme. Ms. Sylvia Haynie, theatre director, chose black-out. And Mrs. Susan Lolis’ homeroom dressed in all navy.

The groups also took pictures for the Frosh Cup such as “cheesiest photo,” “team photo,’’ “best friends photo”, and a picture of the freshmen which spelled out a word of their choice with their bodies.

“I enjoyed the day, and I think it went very well,” said Ms. Nancy Todd, dean of freshmen. “We don’t know quite yet what the students thought about it, but we saw a lot of enthusiasm with the freshman class.”

At the end of the day, everyone felt a closer connection to their homeroom, mentors, and they left with fun, lasting memories.

Nick Jokhai had a grand time during the “trust fall” and thought that spending the day at Hephzibah helped him with his communication. He felt that he was able to focus better with the activities.

Liza Boswell thought being peer-pressured into trust falling into her peers’ arms brought everyone a little bit closer, but doesn’t recommend it to next year’s rising ninth-graders.

Even the high school advisors enjoyed their day at Hephzibah. Lucy Lee had fun as a mentor participating in the course for a second time. She enjoyed getting to know the new freshmen she didn’t know very well.

While many people had an amazing time at Hephzibah, some were tired at the end of the day.

“I’ve never been in so much pain and tiredness before,” said Tucker Andrews. “I’m going to go into hibernation.”