All 9th graders attend a student retreat at Stanford University prior to the start of the school year.
Freshman Retreat
The Freshmen Leadership Retreat is a key component of our program held the week before school begins for all incoming 9th graders. For the past 5 years, LPS schools across the bay area travel for two nights and three days of team-building activities. LPS provides bussing from LPS-College Park to the retreat site.
From the beginning, students and staff engage in activities designed to build trust and respect for one another, and mutually supportive relationships. Students are grouped in the advisories that they will be working in throughout the year, and before school even begins, they learn to work together as a team that values the diversity of our school community.
The culminating activity of the retreat includes a day-long ropes-course where students learn to rely on one another to help all members of their advisory groups and incoming class to climb a 15-foot wall. Through LPS' signature Freshmen Leadership Retreat, students experience life on a prestigious college campus, and get their first glimpse into LPS' unique culture, a small community that encourages self expression, exploration and personal growth of each individual student.