Frost Valley Builds Camaraderie Among Sophomores
Browning students take part in bonding activities with students from the other single-sex Interschool schools, Jan. 17, 2020. Form IV students and Form VI peer leaders went on their annual retreat to Frost Valley to spend time and talk about important social and academic issues with their peers from Brearley, Chapin, Collegiate, Nightingale-Bamford, and Spence. (Aldo Troani)
“This past Frost Valley trip was nothing less than a great bonding experience. Even though it has been a long-lasting tradition, the class of 2022 built connections that will be embedded inside themselves forever,” Kabir K. ’22 said.
Traditions are an important part of the culture at Browning. The Form V and VI college trip, the Form III trip to Pine Forest, and the Skating Party have all been part of the history of the school, but Frost Valley stands out to the boys. The trip is a heavily anticipated adventure that students cannot wait to partake in.
“I remember hearing about the trip for the first time in eighth grade. I was so excited and wanted to go on it. All the stories I heard from the older boys made me even more anxious to go,” Joe F. ’22 said.
The students are the priority of the trip, but the seniors and teachers that lead them make sure the boys take advantage of everything Frost Valley has to offer. Peer Leaders advisor Brett Wisniewski has taken the initiative for the past several years to lead the Form IV students on Frost Valley with the goal of making sure they learn more about themselves and their friendships.
“It is a learning experience for me; I get to see our students interact with others in an environment outside of Browning, and there I can learn a lot about who they are and how they treat others,” Dr. Wisniewski said. “It has a great balance of fun and education, and the scenery is just amazing.”
Also, the peer leaders take time out of their own schedule to advise students on how to manage both academics and their social lives. They remember how Frost Valley impacted their lives and created new relationships, and want younger students to have the same exposure.
“I had an amazing time during my Frost Valley experience. I made new friends and had a lot of fun. I want younger students to have the same experience I had,” Austin S. ’20 said.
Additionally, Dr. Wisniewski has been the head of the peer leader group for three years now, implementing the relationships built between younger freshman and sophomores with soon to be Alumnus. Being in charge of both the Frost Valley trip and the Peer leaders allows Dr. Wisniewski to integrate the out of school retreat with academics.
“I took on the task for a couple of reasons - firstly, in order to read up and study ideas about how leadership works, and more importantly, how it can be taught. Secondly, I really like relating to my students and learning about how they navigate their social and emotional lives outside of the classroom. Peer Leadership was a perfect opportunity to do more of this. Lastly, I wanted to see how much we could expand the program and get our students to take on roles in wider communities and learn to have more feelings of agency in terms of the life of the school,” Dr. Wisniewski said.
This year the trip truly affected the Form IV students. They learned more about each other and built camaraderie the boys hope to bring back into their day to day lives.
“The best part was the last night when we all talked deeply about how we felt during the trip. These are my best friends and will be through the rest of high school,” Joe said.
“Every year is different. The schools that attend are so small, that each grade level has its own style, and the mix of these contributes to the differences in each year. Not only that, but the speakers and topics differ,” Dr. Wisniewski said. “That being said, the trips are always a good time, and my feeling this year was that the Browning students really took on a social and leading role.”
Henry S. had an impactful experience at Frost Valley and would like to see more events like it.
“We live everyday in a single sex environment and need to be able to build relationship skills and not shy away from them,” Henry S. ’22 said.
Henry is a member of student council and is in the beginning process of reaching out to other schools to try and create more programs for single sex schools to interact with each other more often.
“I want to start and try to build relationships not just between students, but also between schools so that these programs we do with each other will last in the long term,” Henry said.
This year Frost Valley did not just form new bonds, but opened new doors for more connections and activities that will hopefully happen in the near future.
