In early September, the freshman class took their first field trip together to Forest Lake Camp in New York. They left at seven in the morning on a Premier bus for a day that started off with group activities like kickball and the human knot. They were then divided into groups, competing to see which group could complete dizzy-bat the quickest, or throw eggs the farthest. 

 “The team activities were [a] good bonding moment for the students,” freshman Celia LeClair said. 

Those were followed by lunch and some free time with stations like hatchet-throwing, archery, and rock climbing. 

“Hatchet-throwing was a unique experience, and it was fun to do archery on the field trip” Hanna Schold stated. 

However, if those activities weren’t their thing, the freshmen could also choose to play tennis, soccer, tetherball or just chat with classmates.

The busy day culminated with a swim in Forest Lake. Many students had been looking forward to it all day, and for hours in the afternoon they swam, paddled, passed footballs, and played water basketball,  beach volleyball, and Spikeball.

The class then had dinner in the camp’s great hall followed by a small but entertaining karaoke session that included songs like California Girls and Party in the U.S.A. that had many students laughing.

After they thanked the camp staff they were on their way, arriving back at Rice at around 8:45.