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Reflecting on the year to come, Annie Curtis ’26 joins the PALS in their walk across the Zilker Botanical Gardens. Joining as a new recruit to the Anderson Mill campus, Curtis bonded with her group during the retreat, ending it off with a gratitude walk amongst her peers. “The nature walk at the Zilker Botanical Gardens was restorative and relaxing,” Curtis said. “The environment was perfect for reflection, and inspired gratitude in all of us.”
Courtesy of Keelie Kish'
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Waiting with anticipation, Asher David ’26 eagerly stands to receive water from Tyson Woods ’25, in attempts to catch all of it blindfolded. As a new PAL, David engaged in multiple rounds of meticulous team bonding games with his newly revealed campus, competing against all the other teams. “There’s a lot of people on my campus who I don’t know outside of PALS, and I really got to know,” David said. “I got introduced to them, so I’d say yeah, that’s [pretty] cool.”
Courtesy of Keelie Kish'
Engaging in numerous competitive activities and team bonding exercises on Sunday, Sept. 15, the Peer, Assistance, Leadership, and Service (PALS) organization joined together at the Zilker Lodge for their first group retreat of the year.
The PALS arrived at 10:30 a.m. to the destination with anticipation as to what campus they would be assigned to. Every year, the new PALS get split into different groups and assigned to one of the elementary or middle school campuses that feed into Westwood. As the campus coordinators began to set up the festivities for the day, the other PALS, returning and new alike, gathered outside to enjoy the variety of amenities the lodge offered. Soon after, the PALS awaiting to find out their campus were sent off into the lodge to find the bandana color that corresponds with one of the eight feeder campuses.
“I was so anxious to find out my campus,” PALS member Isabel Grey ‘26 said. “I was ready to find out who was on my campus and bond with them. I feel grateful for the experience of the lodge and to have gotten the opportunity to bond with everyone.”
After finding their bunk and grabbing their bandanas, the PALS ran back down the stairs to unite with their respective new campus. After celebrating with their new family, the PALS began to prepare for a series of competitive games against the other campuses. These games consisted of rigorous matches between the teams, ranging from multiple academic, dynamic, and creative contests.
“It was definitely a challenge throughout the year [to plan this retreat],” PALS President Loghan Smith ‘25 said. [It’s been] challenging to do the lesson planning and to make sure everything is perfect, but I’m glad I got to experience planning the retreat.”
Finishing off their eventful afternoon, the PALS participated in an exhilarating game of capture the flag. Post-games, the PALS returned to the cabin to prepare for their Hawaiian luau-themed dinner. The event encompassed a diverse range of fun activities to engage each new campus family, from a lip sync battle, to eating pizza, and sitting around a fire to make smores. Following a fun evening of music and dancing, the PALS then split into two groups to prepare for their next game: a night of Among Us — in real life.
“My favorite part of the retreat was definitely playing Among Us,” PALS member Asher David ‘26 said. “Even though I was the Imposter and we lost, it was still fun. [To play the game], we turned all the lights off inside, and we drew random papers [that] said either ‘imposter’ or ‘crewmate,’ and then we went around, and did these tasks in our journals. To kill somebody, you would tap on their head twice and they just had to sit down, and then we would have meetings down in the lobby.”
After a long day of fun games and bonding opportunities, the PALS went to sleep early with their bunk mates in preparation for the next morning. Come 10 a.m., the PALS regrouped and walked across the street to the Zilker Botanical Gardens, where they individually wrote a letter about things they were grateful for. Not only giving the PALS an opportunity to get to know people on their assigned campuses better, the retreat also allowed for inter-organizational bonding amongst fellow PALS members.
“I thought [the retreat] was an amazing experience overall,” PALS member Daniel Nikazm ‘25 said. “There’s so many people coming into this and leaving every year so it’s always a bunch of new fresh faces. The retreat brought us closer as a campus, and as an organization.”
