Year 12 Retreat

Retreat Reflection 

by Ebony Dewadasa

From Wednesday 10th – Friday 12th March, myself and the rest of the Year 12 students of 2021 were fortunate enough to go on retreat to the wonderful Rutherford Park in Blampied, Victoria. We got to participate in an abundance of fun activities, embark on our own journeys of self-discovery as individuals, and strengthen our bond together as a year level. 

From doing relaxing exercises such as meditation, tai chi and yoga, to learning about the many benefits of journaling, having sessions specifically focused on key aspects of our lives such as family and friendship, and learning more about our connection to God and life; we were always actively engaged in discovering more about ourselves and our peers, as well as our teachers. Even when we did have free time, it was spent making use of the different facilities available such as playing basketball on the courts, indoor table tennis, badminton, going on a hike to see the beautiful view at the top of the hill, or engaging in carefree conversation with friends outside in the sunshine. 

As a year level we were able have one of the most energetic newspaper fashion shows to date, as well as collaborate with each other in various different groups to prepare for and run our own unique retreat liturgy with the help of our teachers, and last but certainly not least; we had an awesome trivia night with lots of great costumes, music and Killester-themed questions!

Retreat really made us stop and reflect on not only ourselves, but our life experiences both past and present, what has shaped us into the young women we are today, and how much we have to be grateful for. Being able to get away from everything - our phones, our homework, any personal struggles we might be going through or just stress in general - was a very rare but special thing to experience. I think we were all surprised at just how much we actually needed the retreat, and how much we got out of it. Retreat was one of the best parts of my entire Killester journey, personally, and it is a time that I will never forget. 

I speak on behalf of the whole year level when I say that we could not be more grateful to have been able to have a retreat as amazing as it was, for our final year of high school. Thank you to Ms Auty and all of the 15 other  teachers who joined us on retreat, and an extra special thank you to Mr O’Neill, who put so much time, effort and care into planning every aspect of the retreat; you truly made it unforgettable and thanks to you, we made memories that will last us a lifetime.