A Look Behind The Retreats Of SUA
By Ava Pitzen ‘24 and Mya Watson ‘24
At Saint Ursula Academy, students of each grade are required to attend a retreat. These retreats differ from year to year as Campus Minister, Mrs. Liz Pelz works behind the scenes to provide students with a new experience and opportunity to learn new things about themselves and their peers.
“This is going to be one of your best SUA memories,” Saint Ursula Academy Senior Allie Bailey states when asked what she would say to a student heading to Kairos.
Kairos, which means God’s Time, is a three day retreat mostly led by students. Photo courtesy of SUA
It is known that many seniors go into Kairos with negative mindsets or feeling nervous. Over time, Mrs. Pelz has noticed that many girls are shifting to think that Kairos is not something to be afraid of because it is more about self reflection, of where you are, where you’ve been and where you are going.
“Cool to see the attitude shift from the beginning of the day to the end of the retreat,” says Loren Gasser, a teacher who has attended a number of retreats during her time working at Saint Ursula Academy.
Other classes have certain topics that they focus on during retreats. The freshman retreat is about Ursuline core values and how they relate to their lives since most are new to SUA. The sophomore class is all about questions, the sophomore class tends to wonder about their Faith and start questioning their futures. Junior retreats focus on prayer/vocations.
When deciding the type of activities the girls will be doing, Mrs. Pelz said that she picks them based on the talks that will be given at these retreats. For example, at the sophomore retreat the topic was friendship. The activity consisted of the students discussing how everyone has their person and questioning friendships. The second part was the students having to write a letter to their friends to thank them, apologize, etc.
While no retreat is the same, getting closer with peers is a common theme that spreads throughout each grade level. As the students are given the opportunity to socialize with their peers, some of whom they would have never talked to.
“We really get closer over retreats and I just think it’s exciting,” says Junior Marissa Holman.
Pelz spends a lot of time planning and praying that these retreats will touch the hearts of each one of the girls at SUA. The process of planning a retreat begins way before the thought of a retreat makes its way to the mind of a student.
