Oct. 11th, 2020
2020 PAS Camp (2020/9/23-25) was held in Tainan. High school and middle school students in PAS were divided into groups by the House System, yielding opportunities to make new friends and reinforce the sense of belonging in the PAS family.
On the first day, before the arrival of the hotel in Zengwen Dam, chaperones brought students to three factories: the T.K Food factory, the Carol Brass factory, and the Dai-Chung-Ho Boba Factory. These factories not only introduced students to a whole new view on Taiwanese industries, but also provided interesting extra activities, such as tasting different flavors of cube pastry, playing trumpets, and drinking bubble milk tea. After visiting these fascinating installments, the students arrived in Hotel Cham Cham in Zengwen Dam, Tainan. Students partook in both indoor and outdoor activities at the hotel.
On the first night, the main event was the indoor spider laser game. The rules of the game essentially stated that students need to manage to balance themselves and avoid touching the red lasers. If they failed to balance and touched the red laser, points will be deducted. Due to the red laser in the dark, students were experiencing a challenging balance skill in darkness with cooperative teammates.
The second day started off with a buffet provided by the hotel, which gave students the energy needed for the following activities. PAS students enjoyed plenty of activities designed for earning points and interacting with team members. Each team was distributed randomly, which allowed participation in both activity types without overcrowding. The teams assigned for indoor activities needed to scan the QR code for questions as they were challenged to track the clues and easter eggs in the hotel.
Outdoor activities were composed of six amusing activities over the resort. In general, everyone cooperated with their teammates, accomplished tasks, and earned points. After a busy day of team bonding activities dinner was served at the end of the day for everyone to regain the energy strained. Furthermore, PAS Camp also included an event held in the swimming pool for teams to earn points for their members’ swimming skills. Each team had ten representatives for the competition, showing not only their cooperation but also enjoying the cool waters amidst the hot summer. For other members, they cheered for their members and interacted with friends.
The student leaders played an essential role in the groups. Cooperation is the primary goal of a team because it not only serves as the pursuit of PAS but also is what a team should focus on. In the words of Elizabeth Huang (11), who was one of the outstanding leaders, she enjoyed “watching everyone play together.” Moreover, she commented on the spiritual role of the leader: “[to] bring everyone together and dissolve conflicts!”
For participants and students, they shared a similar view with the leaders. They believe that “teamwork makes the dream work.” Though they might not have won all the games and got first place, the process their whole team went through together is what makes this event meaningful and special. According to David Liu Jr. (10), he learned how to empathize with other team members during the games. In addition, he expresses enthusiastically about his most enjoyable part: “Staying in the hotel room with friends is definitely the fun part because this is the time when we can integrate and become closer!”
Though everyone had different experiences at camp, one theme connects all: from staff to students, they all had great fun in these three days.