Retreats Impact WHS Students
Ellie Blake
Staff Writer
A microphone sits in the middle of a huge circle made by students that have gone to school together since they were in kindergarten.
One by one, students walk up to the microphone and speak to their fellow classmates. Whether they say something positive they have seen in the interaction of their classmates or they point out something that needs fixed, each comment hits everyone deeply.
A popular kid that everyone looks up to saunters to the middle of the circle and picks up the microphone. Everyone ponders on what he could be saying. Would he make himself look good, like he usually does? Looking at everyone, he points out that one kid that nobody knows about on how good he is at drawing. The look on the boys face that never talks suddenly brightens up, something his classmates have never seen before. He wonders if everyone isn’t actually against him.
Every Waverly High School student can remember these exciting days: retreats.
Retreats are days for students to take off classes and focus on connecting with their classmates, teachers, and school. These retreats are run by the Youth Frontiers. Since 1987, the Youth Frontiers have worked with 1.3 million students. The staff of the Youth Frontiers are full of fun and energetic people that catch every student’s attention. The retreats are supposed to take the stress from a regular school day and show the students how much fun school could be if everyone respected each other.
After they introduce themselves, the staff shares personal stories to set the tone for the day. Music and sound effects are played throughout the day, including dancing, raps, and even some singing. Students are assigned small groups with group leaders to answer questions about respect, courage, or leadership. At the end of the day, a microphone is placed in the middle of the students for volunteers to walk up and share what they have learned throughout the day or share something that they want to get off their chest. This itself takes loads of courage.
“The music part was my favorite. The songs talked about how it’s okay to be yourself and not care what others think,” freshman Jazzmine Zavala said.
There are five different retreats for students; the kindness retreat, courage retreat, respect retreat, responsibility retreat, and the wisdom retreat. Waverly students started out participating in the Courage Retreat in seventh grade, the Respect Retreat during their freshman year in high school, and the Responsibility Retreat during their junior year.
These retreats are meant to help and inspire students to be respectful and kind everyday; but do these really inspire these actions?
After each retreat, most students show a change in attitude. But, after about a week, the disrespect, bullying, and rudeness can be seen in the same students that were respectful the week before.
The freshmen at Waverly High recently participated in the Respect Retreat. Students had mixed opinions on whether it was beneficial or not.
“The retreat affected some of our class, maybe. Most of them took it as a joke and didn’t get the point of it,” freshman Samantha Dunavin said.
The point of these retreats is to show how it’s not hard to show respect to everyone. Most students had a positive vibe about the experience.
“I enjoyed it, it showed how to respect others and not just yourself,” Zavala said.
Of course, the retreat experience will be affect every person differently. The retreats aren’t meant to change the whole school. Not every student is going to change from one day. Either way, these days seem to have a great impact, whether it’s good or bad. From the Youth Frontier’s themselves, it’s all about making tomorrow’s world better.
