Class Trips Forge Strong Bonds

Last Thursday and Friday, the upper school classes scattered across Michigan and up to Canada to spend time together learning, team-building, bonding, and, most of all, having fun.

12th grade:  Retreating, Lapeer Mich.

As part of their class retreat, seniors successfully completed challenges on a low ropes course where they literally needed to lean on each other. The highlight of the event was arguably presentations of the grade’s history. Groups presented skits outlining highlights from high school, and sometimes middle school, while one group presented their version through a song. Leadership, the theme for Greenhills’ senior year, was evident on the challenge course, on the basketball court during free time, and when cleaning up from meals. Together seniors committed to entire class goals, from fundraising for entrepreneur in downtown Detroit, to values of humility and inclusiveness.

“The growth and maturity of the class was evident in this honest and thoughtful planning,” says class president Ally Hogikyan. “We are clearly a class that will leave a positive and lasting legacy. We will be role models that will bring the school together at sporting events, in the arts, and will encourage others to be role models in and out of school.”

11th grade: Clearing Invasive Species, Fenton, Mich.

“I thought the trip was wonderful,” says English teacher and 11th grade advisor Kelly Williams. “The best part was spending something like two-thirds of the time we were away OUTSIDE. Studies have shown that being out in nature is rejuvenating and psychologically beneficial. I think that’s especially true for our kids who spend much of their time indoors studying. In addition, invasive species removal was an excellent lesson not only on caring for the environment but also on the value of hard work. We all use our minds so much of the time that using our bodies feels concrete and good–and seeing the results of our hard work in the form of piles of tree branches on the side of the road was a wonderful reminder of how much we can accomplish when we work together.”

“The class trip was valuable to me in order to learn more about the people that I am going to school with,” says junior Teagan Reese. “It was helpful in learning everyone’s names, and meeting people that I don’t have classes with. This trip was also successful in teaching me about invasive species removal, but also about service in the community in general.”

10th grade: Camping at the Pinery

Tenth-graders ventured eight hours to the Pinery where activities included a night hike, swimming, orienteering, making s’mores, cooking their own food, canoeing and self-reflecting.

“I feel like it was the most fun trip we’ve ever had; it made us all closer,” says Marissa Kingston.

“Because we didn’t have any electronics, no one could sit off in a corner somewhere,” adds Brittany Bonine.  “We actually had to interact with each other.”

9th grade: Roughing it up North at Camp Hayo-Went-Ha on Torch Lake

“Setting course work and the daily grind aside, the Class of 2016 spent an action-packed couple of days focused on challenging ourselves and supporting each other in community-building activities including high ropes, low ropes, a zip line and climbing wall,” explains class principal Neil Donato.  “We spent time getting to know each other and came back tired but refreshed.”

Click here to see photos of all four class trips.