/ Campus News /
CLIMBING HIGH Berkshire Welcomes the Class of 2018
Fifty-five new third formers joined Berkshire in August, and this year more than ever, the Mountain played a pivotal role in their welcome to the community. Student leaders helped ease the transition for all new Bears with an orientation that introduced students to parts of the Mountain right before classes began. In addition, this year Third Form Dean Michael Bjurlin organized an overnight leadership retreat for the class early in September. His report on their excursion is below.
As a part of Berkshire’s commitment to developing tomorrow’s leaders, the entire Third Form traveled to Camp Hi-Rock in Mount Washington, Mass., to participate in a two-day leadership retreat. At Camp Hi-Rock, students climbed the low and high ropes courses, hiked up challenging rock faces, tandem canoed and participated in small group orienteering, all while strengthening their leadership and communications skills. Our goal was to develop the leadership style that worked best for each individual student. This style is derived from tapping into the student’s personality, learning preferences, passions, strengths and experiences. Helping our students develop and choose their own style to lead a group, in any given situation, is the true art of leadership.
16
Berkshire Bulletin
Alexander Saslove ’18 takes on the high ropes course.
Third Form Mini Mountain Day
by Caroline Sugar ’18
PSAT Day was a good day to be a third former. While the fourth and fifth formers took the standardized test, we freshmen took advantage of the Mountain and hiked to Guilder Pond or, for the more adventurous, the pinnacle of Mount Everett. The walk up to the pond was challenging, but the company of my classmates made it worth the struggle. After about 90 minutes of walking uphill, we made it to the pond. Some even rewarded themselves with a dip in the water. After the walk back down, we were surprised to see that to end our morning of bonding on the Mountain, there was a barbecue waiting for us. It was a great way to challenge ourselves physically and gave us an opportunity to strengthen relationships with one another. Go Bears!