All freshmen students are invited to share in a two-part retreat during the first six weeks of classes. In past years, first years gather together with upperclassmen for dinner and a witness talk on a Friday evening. The following day, folks are welcome to join our community for a local hike concluding in Mass on the Mountain — a liturgy celebrated at the summit of our hike. This event is traditionally coordinated by student leaders in collaboration with the AQ staff.
The winter term creates an opportunity for students to participate in a day-long retreat held at our facility on campus. Students are invited to spend a Saturday at AQ in prayer with God and with one another. Our student leadership team spends the interim planning and coordinating this experience for their fellow classmates. In past terms, students used the time to explore God’s presence in the ordinary and “see God in all things.”
Each spring, AQ offers an overnight retreat at Singing Hills Retreat Center in Claremont, NH. In collaboration with a retreat team, our staff guides student leaders in designing and executing a prayerful experience for our community in which students can examine their relationship with God and deepen their faith. Mass, Adoration, and Confession are all offered on retreat. Students can also expect witness talks, small group reflection, and opportunities for silence. Most recently our spring retreat centered around the universal call to holiness. Students used the lives of the saints to discuss how all people are call to sanctity.
Each term, students are invited to participate in our retreat programming as student leaders. Some choose to be involved in responsibilities behind-the-scenes, including scheduling our time together, researching appropriate activities for our retreat, organizing people and materials, and advertising the upcoming experience to the AQ community. Others are responsible for roles that emphasize direct leadership among their peers, such as facilitating small group discussion, leading our community in prayer, or sharing a witness talk. While providing a prayerful time for all of our students, we also hope to create an opportunity for this team of students to learn about and grow throughout the term.
Want to learn more about becoming a student leader with our retreat programming? Contact maria.m.miloscia@dartmouth.edu.