On Monday 22nd of February, 150 Year 7 students gathered in the quadrangle with their teachers and year 10 mentors. Bags packed we were ready for a 3 day, 2-night stay at Woodman Point Recreation Camp.

After a short bus ride, we arrived at the campsite. It was located right on the beach and the views were spectacular.

We quickly set up our dorms and then separated into our tutor groups eager to start on the many activities planned. The roping activities included a 120m flying fox that was 9m in the air, rock climbing and vertical challenges in an area known as the Cube. For the land activities, we took a coastal bike ride passing the Omeo wreck and learnt about the history of the area. My favourite activity was also a land activity, Search and Rescue. We worked in teams to locate items hidden over the campsite. Water activities offered a welcome relief from the heat and included surf ski paddling, raft building, beach team building and surf life-saving.

Over the 3 days, the activities gave us the opportunity to learn new things, push ourselves and most importantly build new friendships through working as a team. On a more serious note we had group discussions about the 4 stages of bullying and the best way to deal with the situation should we find ourselves being a victim of or witnessing bullying.

Our free time gave us the opportunity to spend time with boys from other houses and was often was spent playing sport. There were games of basketball, cricket, football and even an early morning game of Gaelic football that saw the year 7’s take on the year 10 mentors. They did not take it easy on us!

We arrived back at Aquinas on Wednesday afternoon, we were all exhausted and looking forward to a home-cooked meal. Some of us actually had more stuff in the lost property box than in our own bags.

Camp would not have been possible without the teachers who gave up their time to supervise us. Not to mention the year 10 mentors who now have 3 days of school work and study to catch up on. Thank you it was much appreciated.

Year 7 camp has taught me that we will not all be friends but if we show each other respect and work together we will achieve great things. Like Mr Dempsey says, ‘work hard, be kind!’