 Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Burt Howell Students who go on retreats like Kairos, Halftime, or 48 Hours, spend time thinking about their college years and their goals for the future. Reflection is always a key aspect of the retreats. [Click to enlarge]
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 Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Burt Howell The retreats take students to quiet locations to reflect on their BC careers.
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 Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Burt Howell
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48 Hours. Kairos. Halftime. There are so many different retreat opportunities here at Boston College that sometimes it is difficult to keep them all straight.
Two aspects of BC retreats that keep them fairly similar are the elements of escape and reflection.
"[Retreats] are a time to intellectualize, socialize, and conceptualize what's going on in your life," says Mike Sacco, assistent director of Residental Life for Resident Student Formation.
"I think with today's pace, today's technology, and especially with the cultural influences of New England and Boston, we move so fast. I think that's why these retreats are so popular - students realize that," says Sacco.
OK, so students know they need to slow it down and get away. But which is the right retreat?
The retreat opportunities begin freshman year with 48 Hours, sponsored by the office of First Year Experience (FYE). 48 Hours offers freshman a weekend away from their hectic schedules and allows them time to explore the pressures as well as the joys of being a freshman.
Ethan Sullivan, FYE assistant director, says the main goal of the retreat is to frontload the wisdom of the experienced. "When you have a conversation with a senior or junior you often hear them say 'I wish I knew the ropes freshman year. I would be in much better shape right now.' So we decided, why not frontload the wisdom so that the freshman can benefit from the experiences of the juniors and seniors."
Set up with this goal in mind, 48 Hours retreat leaders share stories of their college experiences in the hopes that freshman will learn from the mistakes of others.
The talks are centered on five important themes: freedom and responsibility, academics, co-curricular life, social pressures and friendships, and relationships.
During their weekend away, students benefit from the opportunity to connect with people, resources, and fellow peers.
"48 Hours is what really kicked off my BC experience in terms of getting involved," says Margaret Nuzzolese, A&S '06.
"The upperclassmen mentors tell you about the opportunities that they wish they had. It's just really inspirational and motivational, because it's like, yeah, I'm doing well so far, or I haven't been doing well so far and I want to do better. It just makes you want to continue to explore because there are so many opportunities at this school," she says.
"48 Hours was amazing because it helped me realize that other people were going through the same things I was - forced triples, papers, adjusting to not having Mom's home cooking, and I was able to get any negative things I was experiencing out of my head and focus on the positives," says Kelly Marshall, A&S '08, about her trip on the retreat earlier this year.
Sullivan says that, perhaps most importantly, the retreat lets freshman form habits about the life they want to live. "It's not like a lightening bolt or an 'ah-ha moment.' It's a process. They've learned tools for reflecting. How to deal with all the noise in their heads," he says, "Just that idea that we don't have to have it all figured out."
The process this retreat tries to emphasize in freshman is carried out year-round in the FYE office. A great deal of effort and energy are put into ensuring the first year spent at BC is as productive and informative as possible.
Aside from organizing 48 Hours, FYE arranges freshman orientations, Courage to Know classes, and several other initiatives and social gatherings. "These programs explore the intellectual, social, and spiritual landscapes of BC while helping to ease the transition into college," says Sullivan.
Like 48 Hours, the Halftime retreat focuses on the integration of discernment in the lives of BC students. Unlike the freshman retreat, Halftime is more about transitioning into life after college. Because of its unique slant, it focuses on sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
"Instead of thinking about you in relation to Boston College, at Halftime you think about you in a relation to how to discern, how to figure out how you want to be, both at BC academically, but maybe even more important, how you want to be once you leave BC" Sacco says.
Sponsored by the Intersections program, Halftime explores three basic questions during its three days in the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont: What gives you joy? What are you good at? And, does anyone need you to do it?
In answering these questions, Halftime gives its retreat members three "be's" - be attentive, be reflective, and be loving - to help them live these questions in their everyday lives.
"I think the primary value in Halftime is that you begin to, and really learn how to, listen to yourself," says Emily Stanger, A&S '05. "Doing that is going to make your college years more full and it's going to help you to continue to plan out the rest of your life. Just knowing more about yourself and where you want to be and where you're most joyful and fulfilled. And I don't think that could be a bad thing for anyone."
Stanger says she enjoyed the retreat because it was not intimidating."It's a very low pressure retreat open to people of every faith and every belief system. You don't have to come in as a very reflective person or to have even thought about any of this before. It doesn't matter."
A very important aspect of the retreat is the "Sweeps."
The "Sweeps" are the faculty members who attend the retreat and share their own experiences with their vocational choices. "I always think this is a very important aspect of the retreat because it's looking even more forward into the future and it helps us realize that these people, who you respect, didn't have it all figured out either and they had to go through this too. And they still do go through it," says Stanger.
The idea that this vocational discernment is an on-going life process of self-discovery is particularly emphasized throughout the retreat.
"We try to stress the fact that we are giving you the tools to a process," says Erica Grafe, Halftime coordinator. "So we don't expect you to leave after three days having your career all figured out. Certainly not! We just want to give students an idea about how to go about doing this."
As a way of continuing the process introduced at Halftime, the Intersections Program sponsors a variety of events, social gatherings, and academic initiatives.
One of these initiatives is a one-credit class called Vertices offered through "University courses," which explores the conversations that began at Halftime. The class is open to all who want to participate; one does not need to have attended Halftime to participate. This system works out well for those who are unable to attend the summer sessions of Halftime because many of the same questions are brought up and discussed in depth, and the same benefits can be reaped from the classroom.
Another initiative sponsored by the Intersections program is the Senior Concilium, which allows seniors, many of whom have not attended Halftime, to talk with faculty and peers about post-graduation life.
"It's something that allows you to go beyond your roommates and beyond your peer group. You are able to talk to faculty advisors in an informal setting and they are really able to add so much wisdom," says Grafe of this three-part wine and cheese series.
"It's not a career center retreat, it's not a campus ministry retreat. It's about you as a student and what's important to you and how you think about it, how you have a process of thinking about it all," says Burt Howell, lead coordinator for the Intersections program.
Unlike 48 Hours and Halftime, Kairos is a Catholic retreat. In fact, it is specifically Ignatius in which emphasis is placed on the role of faith within communities.
"Kairos is very different. If you were to say that 48 hours is about a student's relationship with the University and Halftime is a relationship with yourself and your vocation, Kairos is really a student's relationship with yourself and your God and how that transfers to others," says Sacco.
Kairos, sponsored by the Ignatian Society, gives retreat members the opportunity to reflect on the role of God in their lives. The retreat has four basic themes: Who am I? Who is Christ in my life? What is Christ's message? And how do I live that message?
Everyone answers these questions differently and what one brings home from their Kairos experience also differs.
"It gave me the ability to step back in my life. To see where I am and where God fits in," says Jenna Vona, one of the coordinators for Kairos and LSOE '05.
For Brendan Downes, Kairos coordinator and LSOE '07, Kairos helped him look more closely at the things important in his life. "It is a chance for students to look closely at their spiritual life. You see new angles of spirituality that you have never considered before. It's no longer about what you believe - it's why you believe it," says Downes.
While the retreat benefits many on a spiritual level, it also allows participants to achieve a new level of confidence in themselves, their relationships, and their world. "The retreat helped me recognize confidence in myself," says John Xeller, Kairos coordinator and LSOE '05, of his first experience, "It was an amazing opportunity to challenge myself in ways I never thought possible. The experience has changed my life immensely. But really, your experience is what you put into it. There is no need to be afraid."
Founded as a high school retreat for Jesuit institutions, Kairos has a long legacy, as well as a long waiting list. With over a thousand on the waiting list at BC, one must wonder - what's the big deal?
"It's all just word of mouth. Past 'retreaters' talking it up," says Downes.
But is that really all it is?
"I think a lot of it is built up because there's such a long waiting list. And it's not so much that it's a secret, but it sort of is because you don't know what to expect. You just know it's going to be good. It's like this whole network of people who have just, like, seen God. It's like waiting for God to tell you that you can go to heaven. That's what it feels like because it's this big mystery and they all say, you'll go when it's your time. So I'm like 'Hum, when's my time?'" says Nuzzolese, a member of the waiting list since February of her freshman year.
For Nuzzolese, Kairos seems to be about "finding joy in your life. Maybe joy you haven't seen before, or just opening your eyes to the joy and love in the world that we don't necessarily realize exists."
Kairos, Halftime, 48 Hours: they all help one bring joy to life.
There are equivalents to such experiences everywhere, Nuzzolese says. "You could be moved by joy here on this campus just by staring at the golden eagle in front of Gasson, or helping out at the Campus School, or just spending time with good friends; you know, anything like that, anything that brings you joy in your life and makes you realize that there is a lot of love in the world."
Spring Break
