Weekend Retreat Brings Mead Kids Together

There were no skaters, jocks, preppies or smokers here.

Last weekend, about 45 minutes north of Mead High School at Deer Lake, 90 students from that school gathered for a three-day retreat.

Students were taken out of their “comfort zones” in an effort to get kids talking.

“It breaks down the walls that keep people from knowing each other,” said 17-year-old Angela Ciabattari of the retreat.

“Christians, non-Christians, athletes, non-athletes, people who may not associate with each other are just thrown together with the hope they’ll know each other,” she added. “Sometimes I think adults need to come here.”

Three times a year students gather for this weekend retreat to get away from it all as well as bond with each other. It has come to be known as “Leadership Camp,” but that may be misleading.

“That’s not the point,” said Associated Student Body coordinator Randy Mickleson. “We don’t do this to get them to be better leaders, we do this to get them to be better people.”

This wasn’t a big weenie roast under the stars. The students had to put some work into this camp.

They broke down into smaller groups and attended workshops run by teachers and other volunteers. Problem solving skills, how to work with others, anger management and a host of other issues were addressed.

They also participated in a team dynamics ropes course.

But while there, students were free to say whatever they wanted about anything without fear of repercussions. Some students were there to just have fun while others talked on a personal level.

This was Ciabattari’s fourth trip to the camp. The senior said she has never encountered such a positive experience.

Ciabattari said the first time she attended the camp as a freshman she didn’t want to leave.

“It was a very personal experience for me,” she said. “When I started at Mead, it was so big and impersonal. You really were just another number.

“Then I started thinking about the way the whole school system works, she said. “Sometimes it seems like you’re just rounded up and pushed through the system. And if you’re not careful, you may never really get to know anybody.

“I think that’s what makes this camp so special. It’s a chance to get know people as more than the social clique they hang out in,” she said.

Mickleson said he likes holding the retreat out of town because it takes students away from the trappings they’re so often used to having.

“It would be very difficult to hold something like this in Spokane,” he said.

So on Friday night, without any MTV or Bon Marche, 90 teenagers shut off all the lights in a cabin at the Pinelow Campgrounds and started a fire in the fireplace.

After the fire got going, every student was given a candle. The light from the first candle was passed along until the entire room shone brightly.

Which was the whole point of the camp.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo