Over the past couple of months, BSM students have had the chance to attend class retreats. Set up by multiple theology teachers, students have had the chance to learn about their faith, while participating in activities with their peers.

While BSM does not have one specific theology teacher that plans the retreats, many of them work together to make sure the themes of each retreat relate back to each other. “Oftentimes it centers around the Scripture theme for the year. The seniors retreat was sort of a riff off of the Scripture theme. I guess in general, that probably helps frame what the retreat themes are, but they are unique to each class,” theology teacher Becca Meagher said.

The teachers and retreat leaders hope that students will learn during their time at the retreat. “My retreat philosophy is wholeness and holiness. It’s this idea of community building, and to realize sort of fundamentally who God is calling you to be right, this holiness, peace, and that those two oftentimes go hand in hand so that you understand your call to holiness by the people who you surround yourself with,” Meagher said.

While teachers hope students will be attentive and excited for their retreat day, that’s not always the case. “My hope always is that kids will leave and realize it wasn’t as bad as they thought it was gonna be. We’re never gonna satisfy everyone’s desires on a retreat. But I think that the more you put into it, the more you’re going to get out of it. If you go in with an open mind then you’re going to get more out of it,” Meagher said.

Sophomore Hannah Buller attended the sophomore retreat earlier this month and didn’t get as much out of it as she would have liked. “[We learned] the kind of stuff we already knew. It was mostly just how God’s always supporting us and then we learned some new stories from [theology teacher Jeremy Cramer],” Buller said.

While almost all the retreats have a theological meaning, teachers take time out of the day to make sure students can relax and have fun. “[My favorite part] was probably playing games at the end or at the beginning because it’s just fun to start and end the day with that,” Buller said.

Teachers bring in older BSM students to help lead the retreat so underclassmen can get the best experience possible. “[Senior] Reggie Hyde was my group leader and he helped and led me and my group through the retreat. We talked about things such as what we do outside of school and what helps us be motivated throughout the day and stuff,” Buller said.