This year, the senior students at Valley Christian took a trip to Mt. Hermon for their annual Senior Retreat on September 11. They met at school at 8:45 in the morning and took buses to the Santa Cruz mountains. As a class, the seniors enjoyed a day of fun and fellowship at the Ponderosa Lodge. When they arrived at Mount Hermon, they enjoyed a continental breakfast and listened to encouraging words from student speaker, Katie Delgado. Daniel Ballard commented on her message by saying that she "was inspirational, had a good point, and overall, did a great job." After listening to Delgado's testimony, the seniors were grouped into teams with captains from ASB. The teams competed in numerous games such as volleyball, dodge ball, relay races, and a dancing contest. After some intense competition, they were served lunch and were given free time to play football, basketball, tennis, and go swimming. The camp also featured a game room with pool tables, ping-pong tables, and arcade games. At the end of the day, everyone headed back indoors to hear inspiring speeches from Ms. Julie Claypool, Mr. Ninos Malek, and various students who wanted to address their fellow classmates. Daniel Hall stated, "Ms. Claypool and Mr. Malek had good things to say, and I liked how Mr. Malek got straight to the point in his message." Hearing the speakers was Kevin Fanelli's favorite part of the retreat, and he said, "They were influential, and had good information." When asked about their overall opinion on the trip, most students agree with Melissa Fard who exclaimed, "It was cool and a great way to interact with each other. It was a great experience, and we all had a great time together. We grew closer together as a class." The retreat was a perfect beginning for the long road that lay ahead for the seniors, their last year of high school. "It was a really unifying experience and got me really excited for senior year", said Adam Walls. They bonded and grew closer to each other to commemorate and think about the time past and the time to come.

[Go Back]