DAY THREE
Day three of Tiyul allowed for a wide range of activities—some of which challenged students individually and many others provided an opportunity for working together as a team. Canoeing, led by Ms. Hirt, was an act of cooperation with paddlers working together to propel themselves forward and the high ropes course demanded that all participants remain in physical contact with each other, offering both physical and emotional support to peers. The evening concluded with a student-planned, western-themed casino night where students played games to win a variety of treats. Read more from a few eighth-graders below.

Andrew Z.
Yesterday the eighth grade was divided into our point person groups. In our groups, we went around to different activities one being pita making. Once we got to the station the SinShinim were there and ready to teach us how to make pita. Once we were all ready to start they gave us a couple of scoops of flour and told us to go over to the water cooler and start adding water and salt slowly until the mixture became dough. After all of us had our flour water and salt combined, we were told to start kneading until our dough was soft. Shortly after, everyone’s dough was soft and ready to roll out. Everyone then rolled out their dough into a round disk. We then placed our dough ever a fire and waited for it to brown. This activity was a lot of fun because it allowed all of us the learn how to make pita, and ultimately, become closer while participating in a fun activity.

Jordan K.
Yesterday we did the high ropes course. It was a team-building activity where we had to work together to finish the course. It started off with climbing up a net to a platform, then after that, we had to work as a team to get across the wire/tightrope and try to trust our teammates by holding onto each other for stability so we didn’t fall. Once we were done with that, we had to walk across a wire/tightrope that was slanted upwards, for that, we had a rope that was vertical and each side had to make sure that they were balanced. Then, there was a bench that we all had to sit on and we slid forward, kind of like a rollercoaster. To get off the bench, two or three people had to hold onto a rope that kept the bench from sliding back and we would work together to get everyone off one at a time, it took a lot of teamwork to accomplish this. Our last obstacle before the zipline was a wire, and there was a rope that we had to hold on to. The rope was horizontal and like the other rope obstacle, we had to make sure that we were all balanced so we could all walk on the wire/tightrope. We then had to climb over the rope and trust that our teammates would help us get safely to the platform which then led us to the end of the ropes course and we ziplined down. This was a very fun activity that we all enjoyed.

Jonah B.
Yesterday, I went canoeing with 15 to 20 others. What we did was go into groups of two or three in the lake at the camp. I was in a group of three with two of my friends that didn’t know much about canoeing or kayaking. After talking a bit, we decided that I should be in the back so I could turn and be the most in control. We had some problems getting out of the dock, but after a bit, we managed to get out into the open area.

Now that we were out there, we were just going around the area to see what it was like. After a little longer, we gathered in a circle on the water to talk about what we were doing next. Ms. Hirt said that we could go back to the dock to go dry off and be done. My friends wanted to be done because we were all tired. At the end of the day, we talked about how everything we did that day involved us working together as a group. I couldn’t agree more about canoeing that day.

Oren G.
Last night the eighth grade had casino night! Following dinner, we made our way across the lunchroom to be greeted by many stations with anything from pastries and lemonade to blackjack and poker. When we walked in we were each handed 10 chips, all worth one. Throughout the night, we would then go up to different tables, depending on what card game we wanted to play, and we would laugh with friends, learn new card games and most importantly, win. At the end of the casino event, we cashed in our chips for various prizes and items. The ShinShinim even had lemonade and pastries, each one selling for one chip. Ms. Bernstein and Mr. Shapiro were managing the prize table that would sell anything from Hershey's Kisses worth five chips to a ring pop that was 15 chips. They would also sell raffle tickets that cost five chips for a chance to win a huge bag of Milk Duds. Also, for five chips you could guess how many sticks were in a jar for a chance at another bag of Milk Duds. The night ended with everyone talking about their winnings or funny memories we had while playing as we walked back to our rooms. My favorite part was the poker game. At one point the poker game was so big that we had to split up into two tables. Overall, everyone had an amazing time and experienced a night that no one will forget. Although today is only day three and we have not experienced the rest of the trip, casino night will be a stable milestone of the 2021 eighth grade Tiyul.