I woke up, and whether I gathered and packed my stuff before breakfast I cannot accurately recall, though it may have been that I needed to pack before I could go get breakfast. Either before or after breakfast is when we broke camp, though there was still more before leaving camp.
It was still wet weather, though maybe not as bad as it had been yesterday, sprinkles here and there.
I went about collecting more signatures and messages from my fellow campers into my yearbook throughout the morning.
We appointed a male and female member of our pod to represent us during the Williamsburger race that would be just a little later in the morning, as did the other pods.
Then the time for the Williamsburger arrived...
Usually the race has four parts, running, climbing, ascending and swimming. But due to the weather, the race had to be modified, and the elements of climbing and ascending were substituted for burpie-jacks and the Nalgene challenge.
We formed up a runway arch with our arms for the Williamsburgers to run through as they prepared to start the race, the first element was running. They ran through the arch and then onto the start of the race-line they went. I was cheering from the start and finish line, seeing as they doubled back along the road they were running. The runners came in and their times were marked down. Then it was onto the burpie-jacks... They ran through the arch and then onto the start of the race-line they went.
There was a set amount to be accomplished and the time to do it was tracked. It seems that it was 75reps for the ladies and 100reps for the guys, but I could be off on the count. After completion and a short break for instructions, it was time for the Nalgene challenge...
The goal was simple, set your water bottle as far away from the start as possible, then be on the start side of the line. The catch? You can't touch the ground with anything but the bottles. There were many ways invented to accomplish this task, stretching far, clomping along and balancing precariously, among others. They took the distances and marked them down. Then the swimming...
The Williamsburgers did a certain number of laps and their times were marked down. Then the mentors took to tallying up all the different amounts into a final score...
During this time we took pod photos with dramatic poses and general happiness. Some also made sure to get some final entries into their yearbooks.
Then it was announced that they had the scores ready, they brought out all the Williamsburgers and announced their final scores. All did extremely well and most exceeded averages from past times. Our pod's female Williamsburger took fourth place out of six pods. And our pod's male Williamsburger took third place out of six pods.
The two ultimate Williamsburgers, (male and female) were petitioned to come forward at this time. They each took a knee and the headmaster knighted them each with an Elevation Ballcap! Thus ended the Williamsburger race of this transformative session of Elevation.
Then there was a final ceremony that some family members had come to attend, there were a few words from the headmaster and then we all gathered in a huge campwide group hug!
After this I went to a couple more people to say good bye and ask them to sign my yearbook, journeyed home with most of the carpool group from before, we had some wonderful conversations and ended up going to Café Rio where most people will go to for lunch and further have a wonderful time while together from all over the country. As a large group was getting ready to leave the restaurant, there was a cry gone out, "1!2!3!" At which point the whole group from Elevation clapped two times and issued forth a shout. This is known as the Elevation clap, and had been done throughout the week to get attention and to celebrate, but now it was a fitting farewell to excellent friends, bidding them safe travels. Which were had by all as they returned home. I stuck around a little bit longer to soak in the transformative energy of those amazing people.
I knew that though Elevation week was over now and we'd only be together for a few minutes longer, it was not to be the end of bonds with friends and of transformations into better people. It was just the beginning...
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