Written by resident MJ
Since the year of 2002, the Ranches have created a week known as Challenges for the residents to celebrate the end of the extremely long, tiresome school year. Challenges have been an activity used to see which residents rise up to leadership, which people can put aside personal conflicts to work with a team, and most of all, just to have fun.
This year’s Challenges started in the pool. The three teams—blue, pink, and gray, chose three people to hold onto a rope with three knots that was tied so that each resident holding the rope was hanging on over the edge of the pool. This challenge tested a lot of physical endurance being that it was a constant strain on their arms, but mostly, it was mind over matter with a pinch of team support. This challenge was followed by a relay race. The night’s events were followed by the daily debriefs where staff discuss each team’s dynamic, who rose to whatever challenge was taking place, and the strengths and weaknesses of the team that either needs to be reduced or illuminated.
Day Two was none other than the Albuquerque transportation challenge. In this challenge, each of the three teams was given a list of items to collect and find within the downtown area of Albuquerque. The only catch was each team could only use public transportation and were given a budget of how much money was available to spend. It was a seven and a half hour day in town which meant plenty of time to make memories and build their team dynamics.
The final day of Challenges consisted more of physical challenges that took place on campus. The event was a timed relay race that began with a bare-foot only marble pick up and ended with the put together of a puzzle. Between those events were the shooting of marshmallow guns, an ultimate lip-sync contest, the building of a catapult, the tossing of water balloons, and a lot of running. Though the day was exhausting, it was great to watch each team laugh and have a great time.
It was excellent to watch the change in so many residents be put into action. One resident who reacted to anger so easily was the one safe harbor for many other angry residents. Another resident who refused to smile and have a good time was the one laughing the hardest during the events, and others who were scarily introverted became fantastic team players. Which leads to the MVP. This year it went to Faith, a girl who once would stand down to adversity who chose to meet it head on this year.
Overall, it was a very happy week of challenges.
