While students from 6th to 11th grade were giddily enjoying their time in Jeju Island doing tug-of-war and whatnot in the annual Koinonia Trip, seniors were also having the time of their lives in SAD camp. SAD Camp, the unofficial name first coined by Mrs. Ko, was later decided to be an acronym for “seniors, anxiety, and depression” by none other than Mr. Lee.

SAD Camp was an intensive, three-day boot camp in which seniors sat at their desks all day long and squeezed college application essays out of their brains. Read on for more details regarding what exactly happened from Wednesday to Friday, as written by a senior who was (unfortunately) there to witness every moment.

Day 1:

Seniors arrived at school with a glittering hope that SAD Camp wouldn’t be as dismal and bleak as its name suggests, only to have their dreams shattered within the first hour. Much to the dismay of the students, our phones were turned in at exactly 9:00 a.m. and each student was assigned to a desk to start writing. The first few hours of the day were purely set aside for our personal statements and supplementary essays: It was an amazing (seriously, no sarcasm) time where seniors could build a stronger connection with our essays and the colleges that we were considering applying to.

Seniors also had the chance to complete the 100 push-up challenge, in which four male students and five female students had to complete 100 push-ups respectively to be able to eat Costco baked goods provided by Mr. Park from the Social Studies department. Hunger and boredom drove the students to finish the challenge in mere minutes, much to the jubilation of the entire 12th grade.

Day 2:

The second day of SAD Camp was a repetition of writing essays, revising our resume, having a meeting with Mr. Lee, and sleeping. Although students were strongly warned by homeroom teachers not to take a nap, many could be found giving in to the temptation of sleep.

Although seniors were able to take a stroll in the Yangjae Citizen’s Forest  on the first day of SAD Camp, we weren’t able to on the second day due to bad weather and laziness.

Day 3:

SAD Camp, which felt like three weeks rather than three days, finally came to an end on Friday. On the last day of SAD Camp, it rained, as if the skies were reflecting what seniors were feeling. The hours crawled by, as it always does on the last day of the school week, and hungry seniors busily filled their stomach with various kinds of snacks.

During lunch, we were able to go to Salmos, the burger place next to school, and visited the convenience store after. Around 3:00 p.m., life came back into the seniors’ eyes as everyone started to prepare for the Senior Privilege Quiz. I would dare say that some seniors studied harder for the quiz than the finals last semester. Of the 42 seniors who took the quiz, not a single person managed to get a full score. At 4:30 p.m., seniors were finally sent home to enjoy the weekend and work on… Obviously, their essays.

Day 3.5:

On the same Friday evening, the first-ever senior-only lock-in event was held. Many activities were prepared, such as bingsoo making, karaoke, board games, going to the school gym, and table tennis tournament. Students were also able to have more meetings with their college counselor, Ms. Lee, and essay counselor, Mr. Lee. This event ended with a McMorning breakfast the next day.