Sophia Academy Students Build Teamwork, Leadership Skills

seventh and eighth grade students spent the first week of March at Earthshine Lodge in Lake Toxaway, NC. The young scholars bonded through team-building exercises where success depended on cooperation and working shoulder-to-shoulder in such activities as The Incomplete Bridge, Fox Trot Box and Chinese Masters.

Mountain hikes, creek fording and 40-foot high zip line rides were also on the leadership agenda. Students experienced pioneer life by pressing cider, weaving on a cotton jenny and hammering at a blacksmith forge. They developed survival skills including building camp fires, learning wilderness medicine and orienteering.

“Man, I wish we could go back there tomorrow,” seventh grader Jack Meehan said in a school statement. “That place is fantastic.”

Academy students participate in off-campus field trips throughout the year to expand their understanding of various environments and cultures.