When I look back on four years at Seattle Prep, the memories that come to me most clearly aren’t from a classroom. They’re from somewhere a circle of people or a moment of honesty I wasn’t expecting. They’re from retreats. 

Prep’s retreat program is easy to overlook. It is optional. They pull you away from homework, routines, and comfort zones., but they gave me more than any class period ever could. 

It started freshman year. I arrived not knowing who I was in this new place, and the freshman retreat pushed me out of my shell in the best way. I met some of my closest friends and discovered that being somewhere new could actually be an invitation. 

Sophomore year, the Young Women’s Retreat came at exactly the right time. I was in a rough stretch with friends, and it gave me something rare: space to breathe, to remember who I was outside of the noise, and to find people I could confide in during a time I felt deeply alone. 

Then came Kairos. Junior year, it changed everything. Four uncomfortable days of sitting with my classmates I didn’t know very well, saying things out loud I had never said before, and somehow finding my people, and myself, in the middle of all of it. I walked in guarded and walked out feeling more like myself than I had in years. 

Senior year, I had the honor of leading Kairos, and I saw the retreat through an entirely new lens. My adult leader, Mrs. Boyle, guided me with care and intention, pushing me toward a version of myself I didn’t know I was capable of being. My group this year showed me what it feels like to earn someone’s trust, and to have them show you love in return. Though they were younger than me, they led me more than they’ll ever know. 

Both of my Kairos groups, Group Strength junior year, Group Trust senior year,  shaped me in ways I’m still discovering. I know it sounds like a cliché, but retreats genuinely made me a better person. Something shifts after each one. Sometimes it’s subtle like with Pilgrimage; while with Kairos, it’s seismic. But every time, I came back different. 

Here’s what I’ve come to believe: retreats are only as powerful as what you bring to them. Prep gives you the space and the structure. But the vulnerability, the openness, the willingness to actually be present, that part is yours. 

You get out what you put in. 

So, to the underclassmen reading this: Go. Sign up. Put your phone away. Sit in the circle. Say the hard thing. Let someone in. These experiences don’t happen to you, you have to choose them, fully and without reservation. 

Prep’s retreats didn’t just give me memories. They gave me the people and the version of myself I’ll carry long after I leave this place. All you have to do is show up and mean it.