As the school year progresses, whispers of the junior retreat, Journey, enter the halls.
Each year many students ask the same question: What’s the big secret?
After reflecting on our time during Journey, we’ve discovered that the best way to show this is not by revealing the activities of this three day retreat but by displaying the valuable impacts that it made on our lives.
This retreat begins even before we enter the buses at the end of the week. It started as the first seeds of excitement were planted as we started to anticipate the meaning of the retreat.
When we first signed up for Journey 89, we didn’t think that it was going to be a life-changing event. We were looking forward to hanging out with friends and meeting new people, though spending a weekend in cold cabins was not enticing.
And while we had many friends attending, our overall class didn’t have a strong relationship, so we were eager to make new connections and see what was in store for us.
Hearing about Journey from our older friends and teachers, we were not really sure exactly what to expect. Though we had heard good things from past participants, we still had our worries. Was it going to be just a whole bunch of bonding activities or awkward talks we had to listen to?
We worried that we weren’t going to gain the same things from this experience that other people had.
But none of our worries mattered once we stepped into the retreat. We quickly learned that the most important thing was to participate, not anticipate.
That meant shedding our expectations for the weekend and just being present for the ride.
This new mindset was a key factor to our experience. We attended the next few days of the retreat with open minds, allowing us to fully immerse ourselves in this retreat and gain the most we could from it.
Our takeaways, however, were unlike any we could’ve expected. We left Journey with a true sense of community. We understood the difference between hearing and genuinely listening to our peers, and we learned the value of each individual’s story.
Our assumptions of our classmates’ lives and beliefs had created a wall of separation between us. This retreat played a vital role in helping to open our eyes to those around us. We were able to look at each person as their own individual with strengths and weaknesses.
It gave us a space to intentionally learn about people who we either might or might not be close with in a way that we usually never would have in terms of the everyday high school routine.
We uncovered the truth that everyone is living a different life, and we have no way of knowing what that life entails without asking or trying to know. It showed us that you never know the battles people are fighting, even the people you’re the closest to. They’ll never walk in our shoes and we’ll never walk in theirs, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
Science teacher Mr. Ryan Kain, a Journey 50 participant, said that one of the core messages from Journey for him was that “you don’t know the life behind the person that’s in front of you, and so you see people in a different light, and you engage with humans in a different light having that context and having just more context about yourself and others.”
With these new ideas and concepts, we left feeling a new sense of understanding. Not only did we have the opportunity to have an irreplaceable experience with both our old and new friends, but we were also given tools to create this form of community anywhere we go.
This retreat will give you what you put into it — meaning that if you are coming in with an open mind and attitude, then you will be able to gain the most from this experience. Don’t try to guess or assume what is going to happen next — let it just come naturally.
Everyone should experience Journey once if they are able to, even if you feel like you won’t enjoy it or if you aren’t the most enthusiastic about it, because it has something for everyone and anyone.
“It has a knack for filling a gap you didn’t know you needed to have filled,” Mr. Kain said. “It’s malleable in a way that I truly feel that anybody is going to get something out of it that’ll be impactful to them if you are willing to jump in.”
So whether you’re a junior with an upcoming Journey or a freshman or sophomore who is curious about the trip, don’t be worried that you won’t get anything out of it. Because more likely than not, you will. Just remember to participate and not anticipate.
