Students team build at state park

Hundreds of seventh graders at Memorial Junior High School made their way out of the classroom and into Valley Stream State Park on Oct. 18 to work on some team building exercises and meet some new classmates as part of the school’s second annual Exploration Day.

A team of seventh-grade teachers put the event together over the summer and into the fall. Lessons are taught prior to and after the event that touch on what students worked on and learned during Exploration Day.

Since several different elementary schools filter into Memorial from three different school districts, teachers and administrators wanted to make sure students got to know one another. Seventh-grade teachers Kim Cazzetto (English), Erin Primm (science), Andrea Trager (social studies), Christina Miceli (math) and MaryAnne Gustav (special education) first organized the event last summer.

Primm and Cazzetto said this year’s planning went much smoother than last year, as only some tweaks were made to the program. Last year, students moved from station-to-station to complete each task, while this time around each group’s chaperone provided them with the supplies they’d need for each activity.

There were several events that students had to complete and reflect on, including a couple involving blindfolds. In Mine Field, the seventh graders were paired up. One person was blindfolded and had to walk across a section of the park by listening to their partner’s voice and avoiding “mines” along the way.

“We’re trying to teach them how to work together,” Cazzetto said. “We’re trying to teach them social skills [and] we’re trying to teach them problem solving skills.”

For the day, students were divided up into groups of 12. Teachers said the teams were done randomly so it would give students a chance to meet classmates they might not have known before. To celebrate the concept of teamwork, each group had to design a flag, come up with a handshake, a team motto, an original high-five and victory dance.