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Fifty feet up in the air and clipped into a harness with nowhere to go, I had a lot of time to think. Technically, my platform was only supposed to hold three people–but one of them, many platforms ahead, had been struggling on an element for the past twenty minutes, causing a traffic block. Time ticked by before people finally began moving from one element again to the next. That single stretch of waiting, more than anything else, is what I’ll remember about the Class of 2028’s first day of school. 

On the first day of school, Academy sends each upper school grade somewhere different to kick off the year. The incoming freshmen have Unity Day to get them accustomed to the school; sophomores head out for community service with their advisories; seniors begin things a day early with their senior retreat, and juniors–this year, on Monday morning, August 24- piled onto two buses bound for Zip Zone before heading back to campus for lunch and the rest of the first-day activities. 

Before anyone even touched a zipline, we were placed in various groups. Days earlier, we had all filled out a Google form rating how adventurous we considered ourselves, and that survey decided which group we’d be sorted into. There were four groups, ranging from Group One (the thrill-seekers) to Group Four (the cautious). From there, we were led to a tutorial–how to clip in, how to move safely between platforms and elements, and how to trust the gear holding you fifty feet off the ground. 

After that came the actual courses, which were also determined by difficulty. Yellow was the easiest, a place to get accustomed to being in the air. After that came two green courses, then a single blue, and then one black. We had had the rules explained to us beforehand: you couldn’t attempt blue without finishing green first, and black was off-limits until you completed blue. Each course increased in rigor compared to the last, with many students who had completed the black course claiming it to be “insanely difficult and tiring.” 

I made it up to blue, which ends the course with a jump. Not a straight jump to solid ground, thankfully, but a jump into open air and caught by a lowering system called a TruBlue (the same kind of mechanism you would find on an indoor rock wall). Stepping off that platform was, without question, simultaneously the hardest and most thrilling part of my day. 

By the time we loaded back onto the buses around 11:45, the weather had held all morning and so had most people’s spirits. Once we returned to campus, the day continued–lunch, a talk with college counselling, and an ice cream social.

Zipzone was a fantastic icebreaker. Unlike most schools, Columbus Academy doesn’t start off the year in a conventional way–no lockers, schedules, classes–but Zipzone accomplished what it was supposed to: it brought the junior class back together for the school year, ready to charge in. Junior Emma Jontes stated, “ZipZone was a really fun way to start the year, I enjoyed it a lot and am excited for the school year.”

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Fifty feet up in the air and clipped into a harness with nowhere to go, I had a lot of time to think. Technically, my platform was only supposed to hold three people–but one of the people many platforms ahead had been struggling on an element for the past twenty minutes, causing a traffic block. Time ticked by before people finally began moving again, one element to the next. That single stretch of waiting, more than anything else, is what I’ll remember about the Class of 2028’s first day of school. 

Columbus Academy has a tradition, distinguishing itself from other schools. On the first day of school, Academy sends each upper school grade somewhere different to kick off the year. The incoming freshmen have Unity Day to get them accustomed to the school; sophomores head out for community service with their advisories; seniors begin things a day early with their senior retreat, and juniors–this year, on Monday, August 24–pile onto two buses bound for Zip Zone in the morning before heading back to campus for lunch and the rest of the first-day activities. 

Before anyone even touched a zipline, the school began sorting us. Days earlier, we’d all filled out a Google form rating how adventurous we considered ourselves, and that survey decided which group we’d be sorted into. There were four groups ranging from Group One (the thrill-seekers) to Group Four (the cautious). These groups ended up determining the order we checked in and geared up once we’d arrived. From there, we were led to a tutorial–how to clip in, how to move safely between platforms and elements, and how to trust the gear holding you fifty feet off the ground. 

After that came the actual courses. The courses too were sorted into categories determined by difficulty. Yellow was the easiest, a place to get accustomed to being in the air. After that came two green courses, then a single blue, and then one black. We’d had the rules explained to us beforehand: you couldn’t attempt blue without finishing green first, and black was off-limits until you completed blue. Each course increased in rigor compared to the last, with many students who’d completed the black course claiming it to be “insanely difficult and tiring”. 

I made it up to blue, which ends the course with a jump. Not a straight jump to solid ground, thankfully, but a jump into open air and caught by a lowering system called a TruBlue (the same kind of mechanism you’d find on an indoor rock wall). Stepping off that platform was, without question, simultaneously the hardest and most thrilling part of my day. 

By the time we loaded back onto the buses around 11:45, the weather had held all morning and so had most people’s spirits. Once we returned to campus, the day continued on–lunch, a talk with college counselling, and an ice cream social rounded out the rest of the day.

Zipzone was a fantastic icebreaker and accomplished what it was supposed to do: it bring the junior class back together for the school year, ready to charge in.