Senior peer leaders bond at yearly retreat

By David Ezra Flatau-Jones ‘23

Every year, incoming W+H ninth graders are mentored and guided by a group of senior peer leaders. This year, 13 dedicated and qualified members of the Class of 2023 have been chosen to fill this role.

In preparation for the program and its associated duties and challenges, the peer leaders went on a three-day intensive retreat on the last weekend of August, organized by the program’s directors, Miss Tanda Tucker and Mr. Ryan Oliveira. Cherice Clarke ‘23, one of this year’s peer leaders, spoke briefly about the experience: “I really liked it. It was a fun experience, and I learned a lot about myself and everyone I was with.”

Located at Fairview Lake YMCA in Stillwater Township, the retreat consisted of a number of training and team building activities. The seniors learned about valuable leadership qualities such as communication, planning, empathy, and perseverance, working together to determine their individual strengths and weaknesses in regard to these traits and more. At times during the retreat, these strengths and weaknesses were put to the test through a variety of challenging activities, both mental and physical, which tested their overall teamwork, communication, and flexibility.

By going through exercises such as these, the peer leaders learned more about themselves and each other than they had known before. This helped them to form equal, efficient, and productive teams based on deeper understanding of one another. Miss Tucker and Coach Ryan took a backseat role during these activities, letting the seniors come to these decisions and solutions largely on their own, as practice for what may be required down the line as a peer leader. Many of the other details of the retreat unfortunately have to remain confidential; however, this exemplifies a wonderful pillar of the program itself.

Peer Leadership is built on the confidentiality of both the seniors and ninth graders, reinforcing and depending on the trust that is built and maintained throughout the program. The seeds of this trust are sewn during the August retreat.

According to Miss Tucker, “The one thing that always strikes me, year to year, is getting to know students I thought I knew well on a much deeper level. The retreat also gives me an opportunity to have a relationship with students whom I didn’t know already, and I’m thankful for that opportunity. For me, I feel the success of the August retreat is always foretelling of the success of the year in general for the Peer Leader Program, and if this year is any indication, I’m looking forward to the end result.”