Why a Fall Retreat?

One benefit of a small school is the ability to load up all our students on the second week of school and travel to the mountains for a few days to reflect and set culture for the year to come. This week we get to return to our fall retreat. We have been unable to have a full overnight retreat since 2019, so the excitement is high! Why a fall retreat you ask, when we are only one week into school? Isn’t our goal in an educational institution primarily learning? Yes, of course, but we teach the whole person, and we humans perform at our best when we feel safe and loved in a community. The House system at TRA began eight years ago to create friendships across grade levels, build community, hone leadership skills, and forge character. Depositing over one hundred teens into the mountains—removed from technology and the busyness of life—will do just that.

When I interned as a youth leader, my head pastor would always tell me that it takes 18 hours for a group to start bonding. I’m not sure where he got that statistic, but it seems to hold true. It takes time for groups to develop their own unique identity, culture, and norms. We have the blessing of setting an hour aside every Friday for House activities, but who wants to wait 18 weeks for House culture to form? The fall retreat jumpstarts culture building across grade levels. We spend time goal setting, hearing from life-giving speakers, and participating in team-building games. Our new students may be a bit apprehensive going to an overnight camp right at the beginning of their time at TRA, but we have seen students flourish and connect in deep ways in this setting that they could not do in the classroom. 

Our fall retreat was put on pause during Covid, and was canceled last year due to smoke levels from local fires. We still had a full and robust culture at TRA, but we felt the effects of this missed opportunity. Humans have the innate need to form community, even our God is in community in the Trinity. Where two or more are gathered, or over one hundred in our case, God will meet us in a unique way. 

Our sixteen House leaders will be leaving after school on Tuesday for vision-casting and team building, followed by the rest of our junior and senior class Wednesday morning. This first day  is a day for our older students to connect, learn leadership skills, and prepare to serve our younger students. It is also time for an epic full-camp-sized game of capture the flag in the dark. Thursday our seventh through tenth grade students will be welcomed to camp with all sorts of shenanigans. They will be inducted into their house by catching their slingshotted house t-shirt. Then we will lean into our theme for the year: “All things new” (Rev 21:5). Camp will be filled with fun games, skits, challenging high ropes activities, worship, and chapel talks. I am thankful and excited that this foundational culture-building retreat is returning this year. Please pray for our staff and students that we stay safe, connect in deep ways, and grow in our faith as we rest in God’s creation.

-Ashley Koempel,

House Coordinator, Mathematics Teacher

“We spend time goal setting, hearing from life-giving speakers, and participating in team-building games.”