BSM offered a religion retreat for grades 10-12, giving students the opportunity to travel to Big Sandy Camp in Mcgregor, Minnesota. Big Sandy Camp is full of activities and is well known as a great place for teenagers to build their faith. This year was the first time BSM had the retreat in the last six years.

Twenty-three BSM students spent two full days at Big Sandy Camp growing closer to God, playing activities, enjoying the weather, and hanging out with friends. Many people thought the retreat was overall worth it. “I enjoyed the retreat because it gave me a chance to get away from life and build a better relationship with God,” Frank said.

At the retreat, Big Sandy Camp offered many activities including laser tag, ziplining, basketball, open gym, rock climbing, nine square, and many more activities. Most people enjoyed the laser tag and how intense the game was. “The retreat had a lot of fun activities, but I think they need to add the Polar Plunge,” Frank said.

BSM has hosted a few religion retreats in the past that have only lasted a couple hours, but the Big Sandy Camp retreat was a full weekend. The religion teacher in charge of the retreat, John Delozier, explained why BSM made the retreat longer than a few hours to allow for a more complete experience. “It is a lot easier to fully enter into an experience when you are further away for a longer period of time rather than being close to home for a short period of time,” Delozier said.

Since BSM has not done this retreat in six years, there were some things that didn’t go as planned. The flow of getting food, eating food, and cleaning up the table took a bit more time than expected. “The timing of the meals did not go as well as I planned because they lasted longer than expected,” Delozier said.

However, many things at the retreat did go as planned. On top of participating in activities at the retreat, students had prayer experiences which included adoration, church, small group, big group talks, and confession.“Having a good mix of activities and prayer experiences worked very well,” Delozier said.

Going on religion retreats can be beneficial for students for many reasons––one of the main reasons being an opportunity for students to grow deeper in their faith. “It’s a fun time and you get to focus on yourself and your mental faith. You also get to grow in your faith,” Frank said.