Friday, May 29th

Day 9: Boat Building-

On Friday, May 29th my classmates and I built boats out of basic materials such as cardboard, liquid nails, duct tape, a box cutter, and wood for the paddles. My team decided our approach should be one, in which we folded instead of cut. This would make our boat a lot more likely to float as opposed to cutting and gluing. So after folding the majority of our boat, we decided, in order to ensure the boat would float, it might be a good idea to make a sort of buoy with our extra sheet of cardboard. This would help in keeping it afloat. The only issue would be completely enclosing the buoy so that water won't get in. Of course, this was vital when making our boat, because obviously if water were to get in the boat would sink. We also hoped that by adding a buoy, the boat's walls would be less exposed to the water and should prevent water from seeping through. We placed the large buoy underneath the whole boat, in order to ensure an equal balance at all times, as well as making it easier for paddling due to less resistance. In the end, our boat came out relatively good. It seemed like it should work a lot better than anyone other team's boats, and also seemed as though ours was the most reliable and if we played our cards right with the buoy, ours should float for a long time.

Thursday, May 28th

Day 8: Paintball-

On Thursday, May 28th my classmates and I went paint-balling. I found this day to be the most enjoyable of the last two weeks of unit. The first arena we played on was The Junkyard. This was by far my favorite arena, primarily because in the first round I had 7 kills and was not shot at all, and eventually being the last survivor. The next round I had another two kills right off the bat, however I was shot withing the first few minutes. Clearly I had gotten a little over-confident. It wasn't really painful getting shot, but I was shot on the neck from 10 feet out which did hurt quite a bit and left a pretty big mark. After refilling on ammunition, we returned to the castle arena, in which we switched from Team Deathmatch to Capture the Flag. Both myself and my teammates didn't have much success this time, as we were rushed and didn't know how to handle the situation. I was ultimately shot 10 seconds in as I attempted to hide behind a tree. Next round, the tides unfortunately kept going with the opposing team. We tried a similar strategy however the opposing side was ready and I was shot after taking out a few members on the other team. Again we refilled ammunition and replenished the air pressure of our guns. The next round was very tactical and involved both gaining the advantage of high ground as well as winning over a key point of the map, the middle house. I went around the perimeter of the map and made my way from building to building after taking out 2 opponents. Once I made my way behind enemy lines, I took out another 3 opponents without getting shot at at. However, on my attempt to beat an opponent on the high ground, I was shot at the same time that I shot him. After taking each other out, my teammates needed some serious help and were pursued quickly by the opposition. We ended up losing pretty bad, but in the end it was a good effort. Finally, we finished up the last round on Junkyard again, where we were allowed to use as much paint as we wanted, in addition to an extra life each round. Bailey and I paired up on a team and nearly took out the other team single handily. We combined for 8 kills in the first round and 7 kills in the ensuing round. I had a great time at paintball and I hope tomorrow's boat-building experience is just as fun.

Wednesday, May 27th

Day 7: Canoeing-

Today my classmates and I took a trip to the Delaware River where we would canoe or kayak. Unfortunately, us kids only got to canoe while the adults got to kayak. We kayaked several hours, ultimately proving to be both tiring and tedious. However, I found it very enjoyable most times because Bobby and I had nice conversations with the canoes around us and and had a little bit of fun with them as well by splashing and shaking the neighboring canoes. Eventually, Sebastian fell victim to our little prank and got completely soaked. However, this was towards the end when we were all dying to get off our canoes. Though it was pretty straight forward, in the end I found it very enjoyable. Hopefully tomorrow's paint-balling trip will be just as fun!

Tuesday, May 26th

Day 6: Survival-

Today, my classmates and I revisited Camp Bernie, in which we previously participated in both high and low rope activities, as well as other teamwork and leadership-building games and events. Today we not only hiked through the wilderness, as we've done several times throughout the unit, but we also learned the necessary skills for surviving in the wilderness. First we learned that if you are stranded, and far from civilization, you will almost always have with you tools that will help in survival. Ranging from water to matches, you are almost always going to have something of use. Next we learned that the first thing you should do is find a place to build your shelter. Your shelter should always have a stable foundation, either composed of large branches, or large rocks. If the base of your shelter is branch-based than using small intertwining twigs is ideal for camouflage, as well as stability. The next thing you should do is build a fire. The reason you build a fire second is because if you burn your resources such as twigs in your fire, it will probably not go well as you have no place to sleep. Later we learned the basic fundamentals of archery. For example, we learned about "knocking" our arrow and we learned key pointers on aiming and drawing your bow and arrow. In the end, my classmates and I had a good time and enjoyed our final visit to Camp Bernie. Hopefully tomorrow's canoeing trip will be just as enjoyable!

Friday, May 22nd

Day 5: Sculpture Museum-

On Friday, May 22nd, my classmates and I went to Grounds for Sculpture in Princeton. We saw many great works of art, such as statues and various other types of rock formations. There was also various types of impressionist work. For example, there was a cluster of giant babies in a clear box, which really disturbed Bailey and I. There was also a bunch of giant heads in the lake and other rock structures. In the end, our trip to the outdoor sculpture park was quite different than anything we've done thus far, however I found it less enjoyable than the physical activities from earlier in the week.

Thursday, May 21st

Day 4: Ziplining-

On Thursday, May 21st, the Leadership Unit took a trip to Camelback Mountain for some zip-lining. After receiving harnesses, the group did some basic training on miniature versions of the upcoming zip-lining activities. We learned how to walk a wire while being clipped on to the main wire above our head, insuring we don't fall to our doom. Then we learned how to clip on the attachment that allows us to zipline down a wire to the other end. Once we completed our basic training, we moved on to the actual courses, in which we were tens of feet in the air, as opposed to the initial five foot high platforms we trained on. At first it was intimidating, but eventually the clipping of the harness became second nature, and I realized I wasn't going to fall. The first few activities were just walking across bridges and short distance ziplining. However, as we progressed the activities became increasingly more difficult and before you knew it, you were swinging on ropes and walking across large distance, unstable, bridges and swings. In the end, I enjoyed this day of unit the most, and I think most of my would colleagues agree.

Wednesday, May 20th

Day 3: Rock-wall climbing

On Wednesday, May 20th we revisited Camp Bernie, however this time we did various activities much higher in the air than our previous trip. Upon arrival, we actually did more Geocaching, only we were searching for facts about countries around the world. My team and I found the majority of the countries, so when we had to answer a short questionnaire we weren't completely out of contention. In the end, we lost by 8 points, so it wasn't really close.

Next we went on the vertical play pen, a obstacle course in the air consisting of ropes, wooden planks, and miscellaneous obstacles that you could choose between at the top. In this activity, we were placed in harnesses and served as the belay team when we were not climbing. The belay team was locked into the same rope as the person climbing so if the climber were to fall off the belay team could hold the person up. After everyone had a turn to climb we had lunch and then progressed to the rock wall.

The three different rock walls symbolized the three different difficulties. The beginners stuck to the inclined rock wall, the intermediate course was for those who had experience or who wanted a challenge, and the expert or hard course was for those who really wanted a challenge. The intermediate course was a completely vertical rock wall, meaning you had to have very strong forearms, unlike the inclined wall. The expert course was the same as the intermediate, however the expert had two boxes that required you to climb up the box in order to reach the top. The boxes represent the overhanging cliffs of a mountain. My group at the intermediate course did relatively well, and I made a conscious effort to display leadership by offering help, both verbally, and physically. As my fellow classmates and I take a trip to Camel-back tomorrow I will continue to display the traits of a leader and make sure the people around me are doing so as well.