Urban Plunge is one of Prep’s most well-known and most service-based retreats. In previous years, Plunge was an overnight immersive experience for Sophomores. This year due to COVID, Urban Plunge looked a little different. On consecutive weeks in November, Sophomore students gathered inside St. Patrick’s Church for a day participating in small group discussions, assembling welcome baskets for the Martina Project, and learning about housing insecurity.

Prep partnered with Catholic Housing Services and their new apartment complex, The Martina Project. Sophomores assembled welcome baskets filled with a number of household items for the residents of the Martina Project. “These welcome baskets will be given to the college students who were previously homeless but are now moving into the Martina Project apartments,” says Mr. Liu, the director of this year’s Plunge.

After assembling welcome baskets in small groups, director of the Martina Project, Kevin Hammel, and Pastoral Mission Coordinator for Catholic Housing Services, Lauren Pusich, came and talked to the Sophomores about the growing problem of housing insecurity in Seattle. “It was really eye-opening to learn 1 in 4 college students are facing housing insecurity,” says Quinn Dennehy ’24.

Sophomores ended the day with a liturgy service provided by Father Rallanka and Father Celio. “Even though we couldn’t visit these service sites around town this year, we were still able to achieve our goals of learning about housing insecurity, reflecting on our own gifts and talents, and taking action,” says Mr. Liu. Urban Plunge has always reflected the core values of Seattle Prep and its mission, even throughout the change inducing years.