Who do you say that I am?
From Wednesday 13 May until Friday 15 May, all Year 11 students underwent a Retreat experience at Galston Gorge. Retreats are fundamentally different to camps in that a retreat’s focus is on spiritual nourishment and growth.
All photographs courtesy of Karen D (Year 11 Student)
The Biblical foundation for the theme of this retreat was a quotation from Mark’s Gospel in which Jesus asks his Apostles, “Who do people say that I am?” and then Jesus asks the more direct question, “Who do you say that I am?” To that end, the Year 11 Retreat progam was designed to facilitate the girls’ undertaking an exploration of their relationships, including their understanding of God. One vehicle for this exploration was having the girls engage with stories about women from the Bible and how those women encountered God. With a variety of personal experiences of faith and religion, the Year 11 students were able to safely share with each other their own stories and, in so doing, deepen their connections and relationships with each other.
The following are reports from some of our Year 11 students:
After a long and stressful week of half yearly exams, Year 11 travelled to Galston Gorge Crusaders Conference Centre for a three day retreat. At retreat, we had the opportunity to open our hearts and minds to God and to each other. The main focus of our retreat was based around the question Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" and in relation to the theme, we recognised our relationships with God and learnt about influential women in the bible.As well as recognising and strengthening our relationship with God, we also strengthened our relationships among the year group, in both small and large groups. We participated in trust activities, meditation, shared stories from our lives, and learnt more about each other in structured sessions. We also bonded in our free time by playing sports, exploring the venue, with some performing yoga poses while others participated in intense games of ping pong! We also thoroughly enjoyed dancing around the room to Mr Ganham's playlist before every one of our sessions.
It was great to see the spirit of the girls on our second night, where we all dressed up for dinner, the outfits ranging from S.W.A.T teams, to Grandmas, the Sims, Mexicans, the Bridal Party and the Unicorn Pyjama Army. The trivia and games after dinner showed great team work and enthusiasm, despite the late night we had all had the night before!
On behalf of Year 11, we would like to thank the teachers who came along to retreat with us, Mr Gattone, Mr Power, Mrs Wright, Mrs Cornett, Mrs East, Mr Williams, Mr Nash, and Mr Ghanem, for spending time with us when you were away from your own families, for sharing your personal stories and for the early morning wake up calls!
We would also like to thank the rest of the Year 11 girls for making retreat such a fun and memorable time away, and for being the most loving and supportive year group.
Rosie L, Ana M, and Varsha R (Year 11 Students)
Angleo Gattone - Coordinator of Mission
