But all these activities would have been trivial if not for the main focus of the retreat. Every day, retreat leaders shared very personal testimonies that described their relationship with God to the students.
A graduate from the previous year gave the first talk, entitled “How Am I Doing?” It focused on the transition from high school to university. It was a good foundation to build on, for as the talks went on, the testimonies became more and more personal.
Leaders spoke of their own difficulties to forgive, struggles to become a better person and times when they could not feel God’s love at all. I gave a talk about how Jesus is my best friend. To be honest, it was difficult. I had to expose parts of my spirituality that I usually keep secret and had to face the fact that perhaps some of the people listening did not relate to it at all — and maybe were even hostile to it.
And here lies the beauty and scariness of the retreat: vulnerability. Yes, the retreat built community. Yes, it built on the foundations laid by a Catholic education. And yes, it built on the fact that these students were entering university. But it did all these things through vulnerability.
Community was built not only between the students, but also between the students and the leaders. I was able to communicate and share my experiences with these students and was able to speak to former teachers as friends.
Small group discussions were particularly intimidating. Sitting in a circle, I posed questions to the students based on the talk we had just heard. What’s more, we had to go around the circle and no one was allowed to respond to what someone else said. It was a time to let go, open up and become vulnerable. I could tell the students were nervous, and I knew they could tell that I was too. Vulnerability in community — that was how the retreat allowed everyone to grow.
By the time the last talk ended, affirming everyone and empowering them to take life by the horns, everyone had prayed, sung, acted, shared and cried their way through three days of emotional thanksgiving and appreciation for each other.
Of course us leaders had a different perspective, but I looked at the class and smiled because I knew that, in some way, they had created new bonds with each other and with God.
(Keong, 21, was a member of The Catholic Register’s 2010-2011 Youth Speak News team and is an English literature major at the University of British Columbia.)
Community building and vulnerability
By Jeremy Keong, Catholic Register SpecialVANCOUVER - Every May, the graduating class of St. Thomas Aquinas Regional Secondary School in North Vancouver, B.C., attends a three-day retreat organized and facilitated by school staff and alumni. My Grade 12 retreat four years ago is one of my fondest memories of high school. So it was a blessing this past May to be invited to help lead the 2011 class in this spiritual exercise.
The objective of the retreat, held at Camp Stillwood (about a two-hour drive from Vancouver), is to help students open up to God and to each other. Students begin from varying levels of spirituality; we had to ensure they understood that.
The retreat had all the activities that a large-scale retreat should have: a morning of team building exercises and games, a campfire, free time and an evening devoted to hilarious skits (making fun of teachers is encouraged). As a leader, I was responsible for leading some of these games, leading small group discussions and helping lead worship.
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