by Mary Hilliard

STA’s first overnight freshmen retreat was planned primarily by upperclassmen and was supposed to take place Feb. 22-23 in all the buildings on campus.

The retreat has been rescheduled twice: once because of weather, and the other because there weren’t enough adult volunteers according to an announcement made on Thursday. The new date is yet to be determined.

 According to senior Danni Porter, core team chair, the goal of the retreat is for the freshmen to become closer to their class and since they have more time, they can go more in depth.

According to senior Annie Palmer, prayer leader of the retreat, it is also about learning about oneself so they know what they want to get out of their experience at St. Teresa’s.

The upperclassmen who helped with the retreat are the eight members of core team, 36 small group leaders, and 22 utility crew members. According to Palmer, there is a good mix between classes.

“[Upperclassmen] participated because people were probably like, ‘I wish we had this when I was a freshman, so I want to be a part of [the retreat] because that sounds like something I would enjoy,’” said Palmer.

The core team, the small group that planned the retreat and the activities, began preparation in September.

According to Porter, the original meeting was frustrating because everyone was excited about planning the activities and little things, but they had to decide what the retreat would be about first.

“To start with a big retreat,” said Porter, “we had to start with the theme and kind of the more boring stuff, but it was our ground level that we had to start on.”

From mid-October to November, core team decided on the theme “One Step at a Time” and began to develop it. Then, they began planning activities.

According to Sarah Vickery, co-chair of core team, they started from scratch, and tried to create activities that would help reinforce the theme and what they wanted freshmen to get out of the retreat.

“All the activities of the retreat go back to the theme and getting to know yourself, getting to know your classmates, and setting goals,” said Vickery.

From early November up until Christmas the core team outlined the specifics of the retreat. They decided how many talks to include and what they would center around and also which games and activity ideas to use. After Christmas break, they focused on certain activities and in the last month they have put everything together and decided how to set up the retreat.

“I’m really excited to see what they freshman think of it and how it’s received,” said Vickery. “I think they’ll be skeptical at first but at the end they’ll love it.”