Kairos Senior Retreats: A Blessing for Our School
Hello to all parents, alumni, students, and anyone else I missed in the Duchesne community. We had our annual senior Kairos retreat Sept 1-4, and it was amazing.
Since the program is newer, I wanted to give just a few thoughts on its purpose to remind everyone why I wanted to bring the retreat to our Duchesne students with the Administration’s blessing. Kairos, much like Chronos, is a form of time. Chronos is measured in length or duration; Kairos, on the other hand, is not measured by its length, but rather by the intensity of the moment. Kairos literally translates to "head time"; it's a time when things come to a head and a choice must be made.
The retreat is built around personal testimonies by seniors and faculty that try to get the retreatants to reflect on their own lives, look back, and look for where God was in those moments when we missed Him the first round. The hope is to get our seniors to wake up a little and start to realize the world is much bigger than them and the small communities they are currently a part of, and to start to realize that their choices can have real impact in the world and really affect those they love and care for.
After last year, student leaders and faculty had a much better grasp on the program, and this year’s retreat was nothing short of phenomenal. The seniors (retreatants, not leaders) started coming by my office a few weeks before the retreat to inform me how excited they were after hearing all the good things about the retreat from last year's graduates. One young man spoke to the parents after the retreat and stated, "I had high expectations for this retreat and it surpassed them all!"
The retreatants bought into the program early on and real-life events and faith events were discussed by all. Goals were created, and faith was grown amongst all who attended. I would like to take a brief moment to thank the student and adult leaders for all their hard work that week, and thank Mr. Boschert and Mr. Schneider for allowing me to start up a Kairos program here at Duchesne. The retreat has been a huge blessing throughout my high school and adult life, and I love sharing its gifts with students each year.