By ELIZABETH FIELD and LIANA TEIXEIRA

What happens when 26 strangers venture to Rhode Island for the weekend?

The annual USGA retreat kicked off last Friday, Oct. 12, 2012 as 26 members of the student body prepared for a weekend of zipling, team building,leadership excercises, and miscellaneous bonding activites.

Students first traveled to Empower Zipling Canopy Tours & Zipling in Middletown, CT where they were mentally and physically challenged with various social constructive activities.

That evening, students then traveled on to Providence R.I., staying at the centrally-located Hilton Hotel. There students and faculty advisors engaged in various break out sesssions and red robin discussions, detailing issues concerning the campus and local community and ways to improve upon UNH’s already plentiful offerings.

The following day had the group spend an entire day at Dave & Busters arcade in the Providence Place Mall. There, a scavenger hunt took place which required participants to work together in order to complete the assigned tasks. From there, attendees were given free time in the arcade and mall, along with a generously filled game card, allowing everyone to participate in the fun regardless of available monetary funds.

The weekend also featured some unplanned, yet, rewarding experiences including an impromptu movie night, a raucous night of board games, and a group outing to burger shack, Johnny Rockets.

Students took away many valuable ideas and solutions that they are planning to implement in future USGA meetings and within their own separate organizations.

Anyone interested in learning more about USGA activities can contact USGA President Patrick Kelland at [email protected].