Maribyrnong College Year 10 Camp Blog

On the 19th of February, an awesome bunch of students/athletes from Maribyrnong College arrived at The Summit. They arrived for the experience of a lifetime. It was going to be a hot 3 days full of new experiences as well as learning what it is to be a true leader.

Firstly, you all got into the Bungalow Village that you would be resting in at night after long days of growth and excitement. You were then introduced to your two coaches who guided you along your camp experience. Your coaches were Sara and Logan. You then were introduced to our Summit Five Keys that would make camp go from good to GREAT!

The Five Keys were:

1. Have Fun

2. Play All In

3. Make Lots of Mistakes

4. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

5. Don’t Go Home Wondering What If

Your excitement to get into it was epic so without much more to do we got down into the park and began a big game of 50 Up. The objective is to keep the ball up off the ground by bouncing the ball amongst everybody. Straight after the game, we got into what we call a group initiative.

An initiative is a team task we introduce to each group with one simple goal. To come up with a solution to test the group and discover who, when, and why people within the group begin to take action. For the groups to make decisions on solving the task without assistance verbally or physically from the coach. After the Initiative, the team and the coach had a particularly good understanding of the areas of the team that needed improvement (teamwork, support, communication). The Redsheerans solved the treasure initiative and the Sunny’s solved the go-go stop initiative.

We then became familiar with a goal-setting technique 3 goals that if set, would allow us to get the most out of camp. The 3 goals are as follows:

TARGET: Something you know you can do. (not nervous at all)

STRETCH: Something you think you can do but are not 100% sure. (nerves setting in)

SUPER-STRETCH: Something you think would be impossible for you to do. (really nervous)

The incredible thing about camping here at The Summit is that all our activities are designed to (at some point) seem impossible for you to do. However, all activities at The Summit are possible and it's entirely up to you to face your fears and conquer them on your own terms.

We then got split up into our activity groups and began our first activities for camp!

All our activities for your experience here at The Summit were as follows:

Giant Swing, testing what it will take to let go of our fear and trust the process, letting go of “what if…”. Great job Roman and Lilly for conquering your fears!

Laser Tag, dodging and weaving through our laser war zone striving to eliminate the opposition.

Sky Bridge, traversing across the lake on nothing but a bridge, using every bit of concentration and focus on your technique, only to realize that it is usually our belief that determines if we successfully make it across. Splendid work everyone on conquering the bridge and moving forward within the struggle!

Bush Challenge, racing through as a team completing obstacles, and testing your physical and mental skills. Epic leadership skills Rosie and Chiara!

Summit Window, climbing up an 18-meter tower and scaling a ladder, sometimes when you push through your fear you will experience an incredible sense of freedom! Letting go was the key. Wow, incredible trust Seabil and Sonny.

Snake and Nails, walking over hundreds of nails with bare feet right before coming face to face with one of the world's most feared animals, Hercules the black-headed python.

Rock Wall, is the ultimate challenge of physical and mental strength, testing your will to keep climbing up through fear. Amazing support for your team Oliver!

Trust Games, challenging our level of trust within ourselves and our team through engaging in a variety of epic physical trust exercises.

Day 2 was already underway! We started the day off with some breakfast followed by Logan talking to us about setting a morning intention. We focus on who it is we want to be for the day regardless of external factors. (supportive, kind, team player, leader). What a huge day we had planned for you! Four activities for the day and somewhere in between all that we participated in the Monster Course! Running through a mud run obstacle course linked with the team to achieve not only the best time but also a closer connection to your fellow peers and teammates. After the first lap we followed it up with a surprise, we told you we were going to do it twice! However, on the second lap, we decided to combine both teams to see how we could improve on both teams' first laps with everyone pushing through. Before we set off for the second lap we set a target of 50 minutes, a stretch of 48 minutes, and a super stretch of 45 minutes. It was awesome to watch every single person push themselves and the team even when they were uncomfortable. That’s how it’s done!

Day 3 had arrived, and some of us were sad to be leaving but also glad to be sleeping in our own beds. We began with some breakfast followed by a gratitude session with Logan. Everyone got a chance to read out a few GMICs to encourage us to use gratitude as a tool to instantly FEEL joy and happiness when reflecting on the often unappreciated things we have in life. "Gratitude affects your attitude and in turn, affects your altitude.” To finish off camp we started with your last two activities. You then got a chance to vote for two people in your group who stood up and stood out displaying the most courage throughout the 3 days, as well as the person in the team who best demonstrated the Five Keys. Just when you thought camp was over, we all witnessed our WW2 army tank crush a car! And it was none other than your teams 'values winners that got to have a first-class seat inside the tank as it got to work.

Thank You Maribyrnong College for playing all in and achieving what was once thought impossible!

Keep Unleashing Your Greatness!