HKSA RETREAT

Leah C.

May 10, 2010 - 8:00 PM

I am so excited! In two weeks HKSA will be hosting a beach retreat in Yachats, Oregon. An hour drive from Eugene, we will have about 35 members who will be joining us for the weekend. This will be HKSA's first overnight retreat in several years. Many student organizations have held similar beach retreats with great success and this year we thought it would be fun to hold one as well. The idea started last year, but fell through because of financial and liability issues. Most beach house rentals require a person of 25 years of age or older to rent. Unfortunately the oldest member in our club is 23.

Since this was the first retreat that the current committee has ever held, we had to start from scratch. It was a learning process that required us to ask many questions from the student program coordinators and other groups that have had previous experience. We had planned a small day trip to the beach last year, but to organize a 2 night stay with 35 people is a huge responsibility. We had to make sure we had the money and that we were not going against anything in the rule book. This year we found out that it was possible to have the University of Oregon take on the liability contract for us. This means that if HKSA causes any destruction to the rental property it would be the university's responsibility to ensure that it gets covered. This situation puts a lot of pressure on our part. As a student organization funded by the university, nothing can go wrong during this trip. Any problems incurred by the club can lead to such things as having our budget suspended. This would be a very unfortunate situation to untangle and we would probably have to face the student senate and program committee if anything goes wrong. That is why despite being super excited, we should also remember to take the steps that are necessary to keep this trip safe.

Last Thursday, we held a meeting and went over all the details and general guidelines for the beach retreat. Fortunately I did not have to give the "Rules of the House Speech." Karen the other HKSA co-president, stated that if one should not follow the rules, she would escort them back to campus. Personally I felt that she took it way to serious, but after discussing this with a few members I than agreed that it was actually right to make that statement. In order to insure everyone takes the rules seriously we need to state it as a club, especially when our reputation is at stake. I honestly hope that no one will fall into this situation, but if it does happen we will have these rules to look back on. Specific things such as smoking on the property or causing uncomfortable situations among the group will lead to the expulsion of the trip. Now that we are clear on how to keep things in order, we can finally focus on more interesting topics, such as what food we should have and what group activities we should do.