College. It’s what’s on every high school student’s mind. The intent of the retreat was not only to enjoy the day, but also to inform sophomores about their potential futures and schools. I wouldn’t have minded the lack of entertainment if the workshops actually gave me information that I hadn’t already known- but they didn’t. Each workshop was similar, nobody remained in his/her group, and the DJ was overkill.

            I had walked into school on June 3, expecting to learn all kinds of tricks and secrets to getting into college but I left with no new information. I’ve already known that colleges take GPA into high consideration. I’ve already known that I’m supposed to study hard. I’ve already known that I need a good score on the SATs. Anyone that hasn’t known those things is horribly confused.           

            Basically all that was said to us as sophomores was this: study hard to get your GPA up, build your resume, and get good scores on the SAT’s. Overall the seminars were redundant. 

            “No one cared about what group they were in, some people even roamed around,” says sophomore Jenny Kim.

            What was the point of the groups? I wanted to interact with new people, make new friends. But there was zero interaction. Personally, I had a different group every activity. I just followed my schedule, but I never knew who was exactly in my assigned group.            

            I do have to commend the planning committee for being so organized though. The folders and schedules were neat, and it wasn’t its fault that some people didn’t feel like following them.

            The DJ was, frankly, a waste of money. A radio and a couple of speakers would have been sufficient. DJs are for dances, when people dance. Not for setting the background music to an unexciting “dunking booth.” 

            The music that was played outside was diverse, to say the least. One second Kid Rock is playing and Wiz Khalifa is playing the next.

            The college fair was actually useful, but there could have been a larger variety of schools there. Not that any of them were necessarily “bad colleges,” but all of them were in-state and local, with the exception of West Point.

            While it did get the sophomores out of classes for the day, the retreat didn’t live up to, at least my, expectations.