Bitter sweet feeling to know this is most likely my last blog as a chaperone to speak on my behalf of how the retreat went. Coming into the class, I would’ve never imagined to be where I’m at now...especially as a chaperone for 3 years in a row for the retreat. As a student within the class, it was completely different as I was always told what to do and knew what was expected of me. Didn’t think much of what the chaperones had to do for us besides them helping with guiding us as a whole class. I was younger obviously so I was more immersed into the moment of everything, if things had to get done then it had to be done immediately. I was building more relationships with the people in my class of 2 years & understanding one another, never really thought much of what it took to maintain my relationship with leadership in general until my last year when it was time to graduate from middle school. If I had to think back of what I knew was for sure, it was how the retreat helped bring us together as one.
Now, being a chaperone of 3 years...it’s completely different to be on the opposite side. We were always providing for the students in any way and made sure they were getting what they needed. Like always, the students come FIRST. Of course over the time, we managed to prioritize better to be able to relax also for ourselves. Unfortunately this year, Ing was more sick than usual so we (chaperones) knew we had to step up together to be able to help him in any way possible. Although we had a last minute adjustment of switching to another house, we made it work! It was a great experience to try something new and different. Might be a little difficult in the new house if we had boys in the leadership class since we have to separate them but i know we could make it work somehow. We definitely managed to complete our lessons in the way we imagined it to be...my lesson turned out to be better than I anticipated it to be, the kids were very intrigued by the way I structured everything myself and how I applied every riddle to leadership. Everything just fell into place smoothly, so it was a huge gratitude to the retreat house for being a huge help for us to disconnect to be connected with one another. I enjoyed every bit of it although I was in denial that it’ll be my last year as a chaperone ),: time went by super fast & I was not ready to leave. Thank you to everybody who made my last one memorable!! Off to new beginnings now! Thee Mexican is out lol!! 
