Growth Camp 2008

I will always remember the Growth Camp that I attended this year. I was thrilled when Mr Bala, my form teacher, told us the details of the camp. For the past few years, the camp had been held in school. This year, the location of the camp was unique: the camp would take place at the MOE campsite in Jalan Bahtera. Although I was unable to participate in some games due to my back problem, I was not upset as I looked forward to the experience. I knew that I would learn many life skills at the camp.

Many games were held outdoors. As a result of the bad weather, many outdoor games had been cancelled. Fortunately, our instructors were well prepared and we played the wet weather activities planned for us. In one of the games, we had to roll a ball down successfully. Though we encountered many problems along the way, we persevered against those obstacles. During the game, I could feel the team spirit that I had always longed for my class to have. At that moment, I wished we could be that united all the time. After many failures, we finally succeeded. We were ecstatic! By that time, the rain had stopped and we continued with other activities that had been planned for us.

On the second day, my group was supposed to kayak. Initially, we were in high spirits and the mood was set for an enjoyable day. Unfortunately, due to the bad weather, we were unable to kayak. Our spirits dampened when we heard the bad news. Later, the rain abated. To our surprise, we were told that we were able to kayak. We were overjoyed when we heard the good news. Without hesitation, we rushed to the kayaking station and were given a pre-kayak briefing. We understood the safety precautions and were given instructions to kayak. We started kayaking. Due to the erratic weather, we were told to kayak near the coast. We enjoyed ourselves so thoroughly that we were sad to leave that place.

After that, we washed up and, went for campfire preparation. My group had our very own dance and cheer. I loved the dance best as we had dedicated most of our time to that dance. During the campfire, we put up a wonderful performance. We encountered many problems along the way and even quarrelled with one another before we got things done. However, we were not put off by those quarrels. We still cooperated with each other. I was grateful that things worked out well.

On the last day of the camp, we cleared the areas assigned to us. After that, we headed back to school. Many of us were sad to leave the place. We knew that good things would have to come to an end one day but these memories would forever be deeply etched in our hearts.

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