by Maddie Knopke

Beginning this year, STA’s three and a half-day spiritual retreat, Kairos, will be aimed towards the junior class as opposed to the “senior-only” idea in previous years. According to STA’s Kairos director Robin Good, the new attempts to promote the retreat to juniors will not change the retreat itself, but open it up to a new group of possible attendees.

Good explained that the decision was made to promote the retreat to juniors because of the positive effects seen on the previous senior classes as a whole.

The Kairos retreat is an experience that guides participants to think about how they view themselves, how others view them and where God fits into their life.

STA’s campus ministry leader Joe LaScala, explains that Kairos is a retreat that gives students “an opportunity to listen to others share their life experiences, pray and grow as a community and be offered a new perspective on things that you may have heard before.”

According to Good, Kairos requires participants to miss three days of school in order to attend. The location and most other details about Kairos are kept secret from students to help them maintain an open mind about the experience. Up to 36 spots are available for students per retreat.

Good reveals that the hope for this year is to leave the Oct. 23-26 retreat for seniors only, but make the Jan. 22-26 retreat for juniors only.

The other retreat from April 2-5 will be aimed towards primarily seniors, and the May 28-31 towards primarily juniors. If theses two retreats are not full, they will be opened to the opposite class.

Fourteen years ago, Kairos was introduced to STA as a senior retreat; the idea to include juniors did not arise until a couple years ago. According to Good, STA is one of the first high schools in the metropolitan area to make the transition. Rockhurst High School is trying, however with a larger student body it is more difficult.

Good explained that juniors have never been excluded; it was simply the idea that girls attend as seniors that kept most juniors from participating.

However, last year as a junior, Sammy Patterson attended the spring Kairos retreat. Patterson explains that she wanted to go on Kairos as a junior because she thought it would be a great way to get to know last year’s senior class.

In Patterson’s opinion, going to Kairos during her junior year was a good decision because it allowed her “to be a part of the Kairos community for longer than if [she] had gone as a senior.” She also enjoyed being able to encourage her fellow classmates to attend Kairos.

Current junior Katherine Viviano disagrees with this change and plans on attending senior year.

“I think it is more special if you save it for senior year,” Viviano said. “It is a privilege that is unique to the senior year experience.”

LaScala thinks putting more emphasis on the participation of juniors to attend Kairos will “offer them more time to grow in their understanding of the things that they learned on the retreat.”

Good believes that the experience of Kairos will not be different from a junior to a senior.

“The experience is unique for each person,” Good said. “You hear what you need to hear, no matter what age you are.”