With a number of new students joining the choir and ensemble teams, this new choir needed a chance to foster bonds between the older and newer members.

“The real purpose behind the trip was relationships with other choir members and to practice our music for our upcoming concerts,” Ainley said. “A lot of the kids decided to swim in the cold lake water, others went on a boat rides with Mr.DeGroot, and the rest played get-to-know you games, which I think brought everyone closer together.”

Andrew Moore, ’16, took swimming in the lake to a new, and perhaps illegal level.

“Well I was swimming with (Kim Ward) and Rees(Roggenstein),When Rees came up with the idea to swim to other side of the lake,” Moore said. “Kim didn’t really feel up to it, so me and Rees did it by ourselves. We made it to other side, but when we started to come back Mr. DeGroot picked us up in his boat and told us we were breaking the law.”

Though the swim was long, and his muscles were exhausted for the rest of trip, Moore did not regret his decision to swim across to the other shore.

“Even though we kind of, unknowingly, broke the law I had a lot of fun pushing myself,” Moore said. “It made a memory, but I’m also glad Mr. DeGroot picked us up because I was getting really tired and didn’t want to swim all the way back.”

I loved the food that they gave us up at the cabin. We had hot dogs, chili, waffles, nutella, and ice cream. They gave us breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desert; it’s making me hungry thinking about it. –Zach Passmore

Bailey Brogan, 16, enjoyed the card games and other bonding experiences that marked the experience during the choir trip.

“There were a lot of different games we played while were up at the cabin,” Brogan said. “We played card games, Signs, the really confusing Couch Game, and anything in between. For me, it helped break the ice between me and the people I don?t normally talk to, so it was a nice way to bond with all of the choir.”

Kim Ward, ’15, liked the trip overall, but became disappointed when plans fell apart.

“Well I liked the trip overall, I don’t have too many complaints,” Kim said. “Okay there is one problem; we didn’t get to go on the night hike. I was looking forward watching everyone fall over each other in the dark, but apparently there was bear running around the woods so we weren’t able to do that.”

Sophomore, Zach Passmore licks his lips when he recalls the food that was served to the students during the trip.

“I loved the food that they gave us up at the cabin,” Passmore said. “We had hot dogs, chili, waffles, nutella, and ice cream. They gave us breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desert; it’s making me hungry thinking about it.”

Ainley enjoyed watching new relationships flourish and old friendships grow deeper.

“Everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun during our little get away,” Ainley said. “Old students came, new students came, international students came, and we all grew closer together. I saw a lot of people making friends with new people and lots friends grow closer.”

Though the trip was designed for fun and bonding among the choir classes, preparation for the upcoming concerts was a priority as well.

“We sang together quite a bit and tried to learn the things we needed to do for our first concert,” Ainley said. “Our first concert is going to be the whole choir together. Elementary, junior high, high school, the whole choral department is going to be singing.”

The first concert is scheduled to for Oct. 6 at 11 p.m. at the GL Johnson chapel. Make sure to attend the concert and support your school choir.

Follow The Feather via Twitter @thefeather,  Instagram @thefeatheronline and Facebook @thefeatheronline. This writer can be reached via Twitter: @RRoggenstein.