The sophomore class entered their retreat blind, unaware of how they would spend their next eight hours. Most sophomores shuffled out of their cars early in the morning, expecting another day filled with team building activities and sleep-inducing lectures.
These negative expectations seemed to be coming true, as the final bus arrived late. Needless to say, there was a lot of agitation on the bus ride to the camp site.
The buses pulled into Camp Copass, a camp site in Denton, at around 9:30. After arrival, the sophomores were moved into an auditorium and given an introductory speech. During this, sophomore counselor Mr. David Williams addressed some of the students’ negative attitudes, saying he didn’t realize the beneficial aspects of this retreat until years after he graduated.
With that finished, the students faced their first challenge of the day, finding their group leaders by walking around and looking for their own names in a sea of manila folders.
A focus point of the the retreat was getting to know one’s fellow classmates, which began in the first activity, the wagon wheel activity, when students asked and answered anything from sports-related to personal questions.
The day continued with a presentation on superheroes and their relation to an individual Jesuit student. The groups were then required to construct their own superheroes, noting both the strengths and weaknesses of the hero. This also included naming the hero and drawing his outfit and tools.
The morning culminated in an aptly named activity called “stand up”. The entire class participated in this as a whole, rather than in groups. Encouraged to be honest and open, the students were asked to stand up to respond “yes” to the questions given.
Mr. Williams began simply, saying, “Stand up if you were born outside of the United States.” However, as the activity drew on, more difficult questions were asked, such as ” Stand up if someone in your direct or extended family has suffered from a drug or alcohol addiction.”
Once again, this activity continued the theme of brotherhood, especially better understanding one’s brothers on a deeper level. Despite the anticipation for lunch, many students enjoyed the activity, as seen in the post-activity reflection, which took place after all three activities.
In between each activity was a combination of musical performances and personal reflections. These offered students the opportunity to demonstrate the side that their classmates are not accustomed to seeing in a normal school setting.
Daryl Johnson ’16 began the day with a piano rendition of the song “Happy” by Pharrell. When asked if he was nervous about his performance, Daryl responded with “It was a great experience, and even though I was somewhat nervous, I was excited to share my talents with my Jesuit brothers. My peers really eased my feelings by being really positive.”
Michael Boyson ’16 also participated in this portion of the retreat by giving a personal reflection on a the wagon wheel activity. On connecting the activity to his personal life, he commented that he “was nervous at first… But soon relaxed and told the sophomore class how [he] felt.”
The students’ time at Camp Copass concluded with a prayer service, consisting of more student reflections and a symbolic passing of the torch between counselors. Mr. Dan Lingel, a junior counselor, rallied up the crowd with what he called “a half time speech”, challenging the sophomores to start their junior year with a bang and erase any mistakes they had made so far in their Jesuit career.
With the off campus portion of the retreat completed, the sophomores returned to campus and attended a Mass at 7:00 P.M.
As the day drew to a close, it became obvious that anyone who had negative expectations of the retreat was easily proven wrong.
