When she received an email saying that the 2014 Operation Snowball retreat was scheduled for the same weekend as fall Kairos, senior Kathleen Nolan was very upset. As a previous Snowball leader, Nolan needed to make a decision between the two retreats.
“I was really sad because both are important to me, so it’s hard to have to choose,” said Nolan. “I would have loved to be a Snowball leader again, so it’s hard to give that up.”
Eventually, Nolan made the decision to become a leader on Kairos because she wanted to experience the retreat as both a participant and a leader.
When scheduling the date of Snowball, school psychologist Amanda Lazzaro, who plans the retreat, said that she “had to schedule [Snowball] around the GBN calendar first to account for all the fall sports, jamborees and choir concerts.” She said that she wanted to make sure different students could have the opportunity to participate as well.
“I know of a few students who had expressed interest in attending Snowball, but could not because of the [winter band] concert [last year],” Lazzaro said.
Lazzaro also added that one of her motives when selecting the date for Snowball was to prevent the same students from attending each year.
Kairos coordinator Maggie Bruce, who also works for St. Norbert, said she agrees changing Snowball’s date was necessary. However, she said she was not able to move the date of Kairos.
“The reason we choose that weekend right before Thanksgiving is [because tests are given by teachers] the week prior, and it’s a heavy week for [students] with a lot of homework and studying,” Bruce said.
She also said students participate on Kairos and only miss one day of school before Thanksgiving break.
Kris Frandson, associate principal for curriculum, said if students are missing school because of the retreats, they have the responsibility of planning ahead.
“When kids decide to join Snowball or any kinds of activities when they know they could be missing classes, [students need to] be prepared for that absence, so that the goals they have within the classroom can still be achieved,” Frandson said.
Since Snowball also invites teachers to participate, Frandson said “advanced planning is really important” for teachers as well as students. She said teachers need to have a lesson plan ready for substitutes and get caught up on grading before and after they leave.
With out of school activities like Kairos, Frandson thinks it’s “a decision made by a family, like [going on a] vacation.” She said that students are still expected to be prepared so they don’t fall behind academically. Nevertheless, Nolan said that both are great retreats and she learned a lot from each one. She said that they offer the same messages to “love who you are” and “be you for you and not for someone else.”
Regardless of what retreat students choose to attend, Bruce believes you can have a “life changing” experience on both.
“[The retreats are] responding to teens really wanting a little more personal growth,” said Bruce. “Forget about the studies. Everybody is driven to death with studies, but it’s the personal growth teens experience [that] I’m very thankful for.”