Junior Retreats conclude at St. John's

Last month juniors at St. John’s have had the opportunity to attend Junior Retreat. This retreat typically has been an overnight retreat, but with COVID-19 there were some changes that had to be made. While juniors couldn’t spend the night somewhere or participate in some of the same activities, the peer ministers as well as Ms. Coffey and Ms. Emery worked hard to make sure that this retreat was fun, spiritual, and safe. 

There were several activities that juniors participated in throughout the day, including small group discussions, visiting several different stations, mass, speeches from teachers and more. My personal favorite activity was the walk inspired by the walk to Emmaus. Each student was paired up with someone else and spent about an hour walking around the school getting to know each other and discussing their faith. I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to talk to someone outside of my usual circle and learning about them. 

Crae Morrison ‘22 said that his favorite part of the retreat was getting to participate in Ash Wednesday mass with everyone because it reminds him of previous years when all the grades would get to have Ash Wednesday mass together.

While Katie Monahan ‘22 said, “[My favorite part was] the small group talks we had with our peer ministers because they gave me an opportunity to get to know my classmates better and have conversations with people I had never talked to before.” 

Sean Lacey ‘22 said he specifically enjoyed the games we played in our small groups because it helped me get to know my classmates better and were pretty fun.

Overall, this retreat provided the junior class with some sense of normalcy during these uncertain times, and was a fun opportunity to get to know your classmates on a more intimate and spiritual level.