On November 28 the junior class gathered together for a day of bonding with each other and with God. We opened with a prayer, followed by a game of “Would You Rather.” “Would You Rather” showed each of us what are gifts are and how decision making was a big part in using those gifts. After the game we were separated into eleven groups where we played a game of charades where we had to think about our gifts/talents and act them out. When charades were over every group created a list of gifts that our class has and we shared them in front of everyone. Following the sharing of our class gifts we were given an activity to create a structure out of newspaper and masking tape that a gallon of water could sit on, fit under, and slide in between without breaking. The catch to this, we were not allowed to talk to each other at all. This taught all about how we need to use our gifts and each others to solve things. Everyone was then given a paper to write about where we are stuck in our lives and what is keeping us stuck there. We ended the morning with two movie clips from Groundhog’s Day and talking about how labels prevent people from using their gifts/talents and how we get stuck on something because of other people.
After lunch, we gathered back into our small groups to create human knots by twisting our arms together . We saw how sometimes there are obstacles in life but there are times where if you just keep trying you can succeed but you need everyone’s help for certain things. We followed that with a class dance lesson to “We’re All in This Together” from High School Musical. We ended the day by writing our own prayers, praying as a class, and shredding the cards with our worries and obstacles.
When asked what her favorite part, junior, Kara Campese, replied, “My favorite part of the day was pulling out the questions about our gifts and discussing them with each other.” She continued to tell why that was her favorite part, “I feel like everyone got so much closer by sharing the gifts that we all had and we learned a lot about each other.” The class retreats are one of the best times of the year and by the end of the day the students may end up with some new friends or just a new connection to their sisters.