MenAlive recently attended their first annual retreat in nearly five years. In previous years, our annual retreats had consisted of numerous hotel stays in San Diego and Palm Springs. During these retreats, we would disperse throughout the city, not allowing much time for bonding and team building. After the COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person rehearsals for a year and a half, MenAlive’s leadership team knew that this retreat had to be different…it had to be special.
When they told us that this year’s retreat would be held at a campgrounds in Julian, CA, many of us had the same reaction: “Camping?” We expressed our apprehension about stepping out of our comfort zones and doing something completely different. Once we began to arrive at Camp Stevens, any reservations we had about attending flew right out the window.
When we arrived to Camp Stevens, we were greeted with excitement by our leadership team. We raced to our cabins, eager to see who we would be rooming with. Before we sat down for our first meal together, we were given a warm welcome by the Camp Stevens counselors. They shared their joy and excitement they had to be our hosts for the weekend. They also shared with us their daily tradition of giving thanks before their evening meal and expressed how thankful they were that we were there. If we could sum up how we all felt by the end of the weekend, it would be that…thankful.
When asked about her favorite moment from the retreat, Chorus Manager, Valerie Ousley stated: “All of the laughter.” Whether it was laughing at our fellow chorus members jumping into a pool of freezing water for our polar bear plunge or laughing along with our members as they jumped off a 30 foot pole during the high ropes course, there was never a shortage of laughter. Laughter echoed throughout the dining hall as we attended dinner wearing outrageous wigs. Laughter filled our cabins as we played music trivia, which would not be complete with all of our chorus members singing along to the answers. Laughter could be heard throughout the campgrounds as some members took their first shot at archery. Our laughter turned to tears of laughter as our members tried to stay on their feet during our dizzy bat game from our first annual MenAlive Olympics.
At Camp Stevens, our comfort zones were nowhere to be found. Members that had spoken very little to each other outside of rehearsals formed new friendships. The brotherhood, the team building, and the camaraderie that we had always wanted from our annual retreats was found at Camp Stevens. Even after the retreat was over, all anyone could talk about at our next rehearsal was how much fun we had at Camp Stevens. We plan to make it an annual tradition and next year cannot come soon enough!
