The Human Relations Council (HRC) retreat 2022 happened over the weekend of November fourth, fifth, and sixth. A group of members from the club set out by bus Friday evening to Big Bear. It was a smaller group, but this ended up working out in the favor of those who did go. Elias Singer, a sophomore who attended the HRC retreat thinks that everyone “definitely got closer.”

After arriving Friday night, everyone woke up the next morning and worked on their campaigns. Scripts were written, pins were designed, and videos were recorded. Following some rowdiness by the lake, which was only a short walk from the house, the group went out for a hike to take photos, which along the way turned into climbing hills, throwing snowballs, and making snowmen and snow angels. Later Saturday, after lunch had happened everyone ventured out into town, first to run around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off, trying to complete a scavenger hunt. Despite a close call between the teams, the team led by Callum Cianfrani took the win, sentencing the losing team to do the dishes after dinner that night. Once those events had concluded, everyone went back into town, walking around, making a candle to be shared with HRC, and buying ice cream before everyone headed back down to the lake. They took a quick detour on the way to play on a jungle gym, before taking in the beautiful site afforded lakeside. To end the night, everybody took the time to engage in a few bonding events. After dressing up nice in order to eat Instant Ramen, of course. An event that had a few more setbacks than one would think would arise from preparing instant ramen, but nonetheless, at the end of the night everyone was fed, and some even decided to end their dinner by making s’mores over the fire in the stovetop. After everyone had filled their bellies, it was time for karaoke, Singer’s favorite part of the retreat. With some amazing performances filled with amazing singing, and even some choreography which made it a tough competition. In the end, it was a close call but the duo of Elika Jafari, and Katherine Popper took the cake. Everyone calmed down soon, in order to bond closer with each other, and truly get to know one another better.

Times like these also had their fun and Jafari expressed that “hanging out with everyone, and getting to know everyone” was her favorite part of the trip. After an extra hour of sleep their last night, the members woke up refreshed and ready to go, with one last plate of pancakes awaiting each of them before this trip was over. After packing up, everyone headed into town one last time, buying souvenirs from the trip, and making one final trek to the lakeside, before the bus arrived and everyone headed back home.