Operation Snowball and Snowflake

December 15, 2021

By Joy Lynn Clark

Years ago back in the late 80s early 90s I attended operation snowflake and then snowball. Snowflake was a one-day retreat hosted by my junior high school. We spent the day doing teambuilding exercises all focused on preventing the types of behaviors that lead to drug abuse among other things.

I was a pretty hip urban kid lol that did grow up in the burbs, But I visited the city a lot. Which is why I am so much cooler. I just moved to my dads house and I was struggling to fit in with my new neighborhood’s, “ Valley” sort of kids. Just like my step brother, I really did grow up in the burbs just the same but, I hadn’t been exposed to so many different cultural groups. What about this, “Valley” business you say? I have lived my whole life in Illinois practically but, that was the word that we used to describe certain kids.

Anyhow, admission to snowflake was by lottery and attendees were chosen randomly because there was a certain number of slots. I can’t remember which year I was chosen but it was probably the seventh grade.

I had a blast and I ended up forging some strong bonds with classmates that I wouldn’t have talked to any other way. This really helped me adjust to my new school and my new classmates. I have lots of fond memories of my snowflake experience.

In high school, we had operation snowball. This time it was a three day retreat that was overnight and it was hosted by my high school. Once again, we had team building exercises and we were placed in cabins with one another. I got really close with both my cabin mates and my team. We played games and we really got close with our snowball mates. I had lots of issues at the time because I had just returned from my first and then second hospitalizations. I shared a lot about my recent experiences and I had some teammates who were experiencing Some of the same things. It was really great to be able to talk with my peers and some of the mentors about the challenges that I was facing. I have some great memories of snowflake and snowball. If this group is available in your area, the experience is amazing