The 2012-2013 Eco-Reps spent the last week of August training for the new school year. While most of the training took place on the Medford campus, the group took an overnight retreat on the last night of training week to Woodstock, New Hampshire, to spend time getting to know one another, hiking, and training Tufts’ “loj.”

The group, which included the 15 Reps, 2 coordinators, and Tina Woolston, the Director of the Office of Sustainability, arrived in New Hampshire on Friday afternoon, August 31. They spent the afternoon and evening hanging out, cooking, and roasting marshmallows.

Early Saturday morning, the whole group woke up to go on a hike of Mt. Tecumseh. The hike lasted through the morning, and gave the Reps an opportunity to grow together, through partner hikes and trail games. At the peak, the group enjoyed a picnic lunch. Standing tall at 4,003 feet, the summit provided great views of the surrounding forests and mountains.

The entire group of Eco Reps enjoy the view from the top of Mt. Tecumseh. The hike was an exciting part of the Eco Rep retreat at the end of August.

After returning from the hike, the group had a busy early afternoon of training. They started by brainstorming events for the upcoming semester. Each Rep is responsible for three dorm-wide events each semester, and this brainstorming session led to a lot of ideas for how to plan successful events.

Next, they troubleshot how to handle difficult scenarios and situations that may come up throughout the year. To conclude the day, the Eco Reps re-evaluated the goals they had set at the start of training week, and prepared to leave the loj.

After a great overnight retreat, the Eco Reps returned to campus ready to take on the fall semester!