Seventh graders retreat for a day

The Sisters School District is well known for finding ways for students to get outside the school walls for enhanced education. That is exactly what seventh-graders from Sisters Middle School did Friday, February 24, with a retreat at Hoodoo Ski Area.

A team of adult leaders including Brad Tisdel and some Sisters Middle School staff members, along with 16 high school student mentors and the entire seventh-grade class, spent the day learning about cooperation, personal responsibility, self-awareness and creativity while also gaining some practical skills that every Central Oregonian should possess.

Tisdel, who is the creative director of Sisters Folk Festival, has done contract work for Sisters School District for many years as a coordinator of retreats, Outdoor School and other programs.

Students rotated through three stations which included Nordic skiing, snow-shelter building/outdoor survival, and drumming. Each station held its own value in allowing students to try something new while testing their ability to work together "for the common good" as Brad Tisdel put it.

"Through drumming and team-building, each student had their own personal accountability, as well as playing a role in the effort for the group to be successful, by focusing on working well with others," he said.

Tisdel explained further, "The main purpose of the middle school retreats is to get students away from school, see each other in a different context and create opportunities for students to do new things and see each other differently. The overall effect is they realize they have more in common than not with most of the other kids, and they show a greater deal of respect and empathy, and a similar human connection and experience.

"In addition," he said, "the kids also challenge themselves to do something new, and we hope they begin to see how important it is for them at this age to simply be themselves, and not worry too much about the judgement of others.

"The high school leaders/mentors help tremendously with being able to model appropriate behavior and share insight about high school and the need to be comfortable with being yourself, being unique and seeing yourself as a valued individual within a group," he said.

Surprisingly, few of the students had ever been on cross-country skis, according to teacher Becky Aylor.

"It was a fabulous day of learning outdoors," she said. "Let's face it, what student doesn't enjoy a day away from the classroom now and then."

The snow shelter/outdoor survival station allowed students to learn real skills in how to survive in a snow cave, but also gave ample opportunity to work together to make a suitable, safe structure.

"Most of us here in Central Oregon get out in the snow for all sorts of activities, so it only makes sense to introduce students to ways of enhancing their chances of survival if something went wrong when out in the backcountry," said Tisdel. "Beyond that, it's just plain fun to build a snow shelter together, but making a good quality one requires some planning, cooperation, and hard work."

The drumming session was also multi-dimensional, according to Tisdel.

"Our schools and community truly value creativity through the visual and performing arts, so the drumming provided a real life opportunity to make music, but required listening, team-work, and a little bit of courage to make it work."

Staff and students revisited the themes of the retreat at the end of the day with a debriefing session back at the middle school. A spring retreat is likely to wrap up the year.

Tisdel takes a comprehensive, holistic view of Sisters School District's "out-of-the-building" programs.

"With programs like the fourth-grade field trip, sixth-grade outdoor school, middle school retreats and the IEE program at the high school, the aim is to keep a thread of community, communication, and cooperation alive in order to maintain the experiential and supportive culture for which Sisters schools are known," said Tisdel.