By Inanna Weller

The Flora Rotary Club hosted a STRIVE trip to Oil Belt Service Camp on Oct. 21 2015, where seniors participated in team building exercises.

Ben VanHyning demonstrated several team building exercises which included reciting the group member’s names in a sequence while tossing a ball, he blindfolded some seniors and had them get into numerical order, the ones who weren’t blindfolded couldn’t talk. Another activity that had happened was the seniors had to roll a marble through several tubes and communicate to work together to get the marble over the benches through tubes that they had to run to the end of the lines.

Many seniors enjoyed the jump rope exercise, in which they had to cross through the swinging rope as quickly as they could and then they add more people to the group to get through. When they all jumped as a group it became more difficult so they had to communicate to each other by counting or yelling go. Also in the wood block game they had to stand on wooden blocks and sing “Row Row Your Boat,” after each time they had to pull out a block and help the ones who did not have a block. One group of thirteen seniors and one mentor managed to get down to only four blocks.

Toward the end of the visit the groups went their separate ways and were taught about trust.

Senior Cindy Williams said “ I really liked the trust falls, but I didn’t like how our personal space was invaded.”

Another senior, Fawn Sagen, said her favorite part of the trip was the marble and the jump roping game. Sagen also said “I didn’t like the trust fall or the wall climbing, but towards the end of the trip everyone felt closer than they were before we went to Oil Belt.” She also added that the whole trip was a very good exercise for seniors.

STRIVE is a program for high school seniors that encourages them to make the most of their senior year. The goal for STRIVE is to improve students’ grades. For those whose grades improve the most, they are given scholarships sponsored by local businesses.

STRIVE stands for Start small, Think tall, Reach out, Invest all, Visualize finish, Expect the best.

According to the STRIVE handbook, to be eligible for STRIVE students must be Flora High School seniors and complete a STRIVE Program Participation Agreement. Members are eligible for several opportunities, including: $500 OCC tuition waivers plus two $150 book waivers awards, two $250 cash awards from Rotary (college enrollment required), opportunities to interact with community and business leaders. All students participate in the achievement recognition awards program, and a chance to win an all-expenses paid weekend trip to RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) for the top two students.