This past weekend, the Monmouth College English Department spent their weekend in the woods at Camp Abe Lincoln in Blue Grass, Iowa.
The purpose of this retreat was to build a stronger relationship with creative writing as well as team. Twelve English majors and two faculty members, including Professors David Wright and Marlo Belschner left campus around 5pm on Friday afternoon and returned the following Sunday. On this retreat, the English Department participated in multiple team building exercises such as hiking in the woods, ziplining, and archery.
On Saturday morning, the English majors gathered around a campfire to discuss their summer reading book from this past summer, The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. The book discusses heavy topics of what it means to be Native American in America as well as drug epidemics in communities. Later in the day, they were visited by Ryan Collins, a poet from the Quad Cities who led them in creative writing exercises and poetry readings.
The English Department hopes for this to be the first of a tradition of departmental retreats.
Mia Martino - Staff Writer