Fifty seniors embarked on their penultimate retreat as St. Louis University High students: the senior leadership retreat. During the retreat, the seniors, led by Fr. Eric Ramirez, SJ,  Julie Lewis, and Brian Gilmore of Campus Ministry as well as several other faculty members, spent just over 24 hours preparing themselves for the honor and responsibility of being entrusted with freshman, sophomore, and junior Kairos retreats.

^{Seniors journaling in chapel. photo | Courtesy of Eric Ramirez, SJ}

Last spring, seniors had the opportunity to sign up for their choice of retreat. The options were first come, first served, and the spots were limited for more desirable selections, so when the survey was emailed out the surveys filled up fast. 

“This is an important program to help be intentional about student leadership instead of just being grateful for students wanting to volunteer,” said Lewis. “We’re giving them productive toolkits to help empower them to lead and have the confidence to go and do the thing they’re being asked to do, and that’s really important.”

For students who selected “retreat leadership" in time, that survey was the beginning of what could be up to a year of preparation and reflection culminating in their own leadership experience. Fast forward to early August, and that same group gathered at the Jesuit White House retreat center for just over 24 hours to begin the process of spiritual formation.

To lead off the retreat, guest speaker and SLUH parent Dave Ebenhoh gave a presentation to help seniors learn about their personality and leadership style through a test called an enneagram, and were taught how to best use that knowledge to their advantage as leaders within the SLUH community. The exercise was an engaging and fun way to begin the retreat while still focusing on important elements of leadership and things the leaders would need to know for their role.

The students then launched into a full day of standard retreat activities, including more talks and small group discussion time led by faculty sprinkled with games and recreation time to mix it up. Over the course of the day, students learned more about themselves as human beings and where they fit into the overall tapestry of SLUH as newly minted leaders of the younger classes. 

Throughout the day, faculty observers were monitoring the sessions and gathering information in order to decide which seniors would be assigned to different retreats. Since this retreat encompassed training for freshman retreat, sophomore retreat, and Kairos, the leaders still need to be divided up into their respective groups to continue preparation.

“We kind of watched them on their retreat, saw how they did, read some of their reflections, and now we’re going through a process in which we’re moving kids towards what retreat they’re going to lead,” said Ramirez. “If we think you might be better with freshmen, we think you’ll be a part of that welcome crew.” 

Similarly, other retreat leaders have specific qualities that are looked for in order to suit their unique role and the unique makeup of the classes being served. 

In the coming months, these leaders will continue to prepare through reflection, journaling, and prayer for the roles they will play in the lives of young Jr. Billikens this year. Through many meetings with their peers and time spent carefully planning with SLUH campus ministry, they will work to create the experiences that they will then share with their brothers. The summer leadership retreat laid the foundation for a year of successful reflection, prayer, and brotherhood.

“It was an incredible way to start senior year to be able to gather all those guys together and get them honed in on the mission of the school and ready to start up,” said Ramirez. “They are taking it seriously. They’re eager to get ready. They’re excited to be leading these retreats this year.”