Another round of class registration is upon us. At this time last semester, with my mind on the fact that I had just two semesters left and not a lot of classes required to take, I set out to find an “easy A” course.
Well, I found it, and though it wasn’t necessarily the easiest of A’s to receive, the lessons I learned in the course will stay with me for the rest of my life.
This fall, I enrolled in PEProf490, a 3-credit course that required just one 8-hour class period on a Saturday in October, followed by a three day weekend spent at a YMCA camp in the woods of Boulder Junction.
For months, I was excited about the chance to gain three credits for little in exchange. But when I arrived for the 8-hour session in the classroom and looked at the students sitting around me, I began to get nervous. How was I going to spend an entire weekend with some of these people?
Just a couple hours later, we were in the gym in Roseman Hall chasing after each other with foam pool noodles, leading blindfolded partners around the University Center, and collaborating on lunch from Subway.
It may sound a bit childish, and I’ll admit I thought the same thing, but the underlying messages were very clear. In order to spend an entire weekend with the other students, we needed to learn to cooperate and accept one another.
By the end of the day, most everyone knew each other’s names, and I was a lot more comfortable with the idea of attending this course.
The next weekend, after a somewhat grueling four-and-a-half hour drive to the other end of Wisconsin, we arrived at Camp Manito-wish in Boulder Junction.
Over the next three days, we were challenged physically, mentally and socially.
We walked across wood poles extended between two trees, more than 30 feet in the air. We climbed a rock wall, and tried to make it to the top. We stood on top of a 35-foot tall pole, with little more than a belay holding us up.
We succeeded. We failed. We held back tears of disappointment. And those students who I was nervous to spend a weekend with? They were the ones who patted me on the back, and cheered me on, even when I fell.
We learned to let go of our failures, and to never give up. We learned to stop letting the little things in life, like technology and relationships, get in the way of the beautiful moments. We all became friends, and some of us, family.
At the end of the weekend, we all began the journey to returning to our hectic, college lives. I haven’t seen many of the people I took the course with, but when I do, there is always a reassuring smile that reminds me that they, too, were changed by the experience.
My only hope is that my words have done this course justice. I recommend every UW-Whitewater student to take this course. Just don’t forget six pairs of socks.
