The best way to make friends with similar interests is to join an academy, but of course you can’t make friends just by that. And that’s what the CV Academy picnics are for. If you’re in the Arts Academy then hopefully you know your characters as this year’s picnic theme was 2000’s Cartoon Duos. This nostalgic picnic not only let students familiarize themselves with their upperclassmen from the buddy system but become great friends with them too – through group activities, ice breakers such as Rock, Paper, Scissors and the yarn game.
“We have a buddy system, so everyone gets a buddy and the goal is to provide the buddies a chance to get to know each other and bond,” said Liz Abbott, the Arts Academy lead.
However, you can’t bond if everything is awkward. But luckily the seniors got it covered: human pyramids, being buddies with underclassmen, and making sure no one got hurt, but that’s a team effort.
“You definitely grow a new family with the Arts Academy”, said Leilany Albuquerque, an Arts Academy student.
Another notable picnic is our crafty Engineering Academy, led by Joanna Castillo. Engineering had a plentiful picnic with their grand feast, provided by students’ generous parents. All four grades got to come together for team building as well as games and bonding.
“It's the highlight of the year, especially for freshmen and sophomores because they don’t necessarily know anybody outside of class,” Castillo said.
One of the main events of this picnic was the tug of war between the years as well periods (ie. 1st period freshmen vs 6th, sophomore vs freshmen). Of course, the best part of a trip is always the memories, and that is why every year there's always a class picture right at the end of the picnics. Despite being one of the larger academies, Engineering always makes sure everyone has fun and is included.
One of the most social academies obviously would partake in the yearly picnics and that would be the ever famous Public Service Academy. Every fall, PSA hosts a picnic to give a warm welcome to freshmen and any newcomers; in the spring there's another picnic for seniors as well as little rewards. One could say the picnics are almost like the beginning of the school year all over again, as one of the main events is the fall orientation.
“We would kinda go through and explain the different parts of the academy, projects that we did, culture,” explained Dylan Perreira, the PSA lead.
As a welcoming gesture/gift, seniors make posters for freshmen as well as a welcome tunnel as they arrive. “It's always just nice to have the students out there and give them a chance to relax and bond, for them to make those relationships and for us as teachers as well,” said Perreira.
Of course that's not the only event that will happen this year as each Academy has more stuff planned that will make CV’s year plentiful and interesting for everyone involved.
Photo Credit: Engineering Academy
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