One of Prep’s favorite weekends of the year, “Retreat-a-palooza”, returned to the students on March 31. The Young Men’s Retreat, Young Women’s Retreat, and the Freshmen Retreat occurred simultaneously with almost all of Prep’s students participating in one form or another.

Biko Kavalam ’19, one of the proctors of the Young Men’s Retreat, explained that this retreat focuses on sophomores and is “one of the best and most unique retreats offered at Prep.” The retreat’s focus is encouraging the young men of Seattle Prep to step out of the “man box”, or the stereotypes that surround manhood.

The Young Women’s Retreat parallels the Young Men’s Retreat, covering issues that face women as they grow up. Its motto is “Grow through what you go through.” To Maria Smith ’20, this means welcoming your experiences as learning opportunities to become a better person.

Young Women’s Retreat leader, Claire Alderman ’20, said she hopes that girls left the retreat feeling empowered. She commented, “we are living in a man’s world where women are just as capable but face so many more obstacles in pursuing their dreams, and I don’t want any of my girls to let that stop them.”

Closer to home, the Freshman Retreat brought the youngest of the Prep students to the school to get to know each other better and build a closer community. At this retreat students connected with upperclassmen leaders, take on their own role of leadership with kids in the community, and overall experience a lot of fun activities to bond them as a grade.

Freshman Gabby Stuart ’22, said “the retreat helped me branch out to other people I hadn’t met before.” She detailed how the retreat not only brought connections with new friends, but it was a weekend of constant fun. She added, “the retreat was the start of many new friendships that will continue to grow all four years.”

Maddie Bender ‘19 said, “the goal of the retreat is to integrate the freshmen into the school and get them to feel like they are really a part of the community as a whole.” Bender is a seasoned leader with two years of experience leading the retreat and she commented, “it’s really obvious how meaningful the retreat is to the freshmen.”

“Over the weekend I saw the class bond with each other through many different kinds of activities,” commented Nolan Goldsmith ’20. He added, “The class of 2020 is bright and comedic, and I have high hopes for them.”

Retreats are an amazing time for students to connect with their classmates and to get to know themselves better. Prep offers numerous retreats and “Retreat-a-palooza” is undoubtedly one of Prep’s favorite times of the year.