“Pray your own way.” This was the theme of the sophomore class retreat this year. Although the snow caused a change in plan for location, we still had a fun-filled day in the chapel and gym. After a round of shipwreck and other games, we all were energized and ready to start the retreat off in a great mood!

At the near beginning of the retreat, we took a little quiz to find what prayer style we have. There are eight different styles. Some examples are movement, music, alone time, logic, nature, and community. If you would like to find out what your prayer style is, here is a link to a quiz online that is not exactly like the one on retreat, but I found it to be just as accurate. http://prayer-center.upperroom.org/resources/quiz/results/sage. Some popular prayer styles among the whole class were alone time, music, and community. It was really cool to see that not everyone prays in the same way.

We spent the day discovering and trying out different forms of prayer. We made prayer boxes and put different prayers in them, we learned movement to the song “Our Father” by Matt Maher. We also acted out several skits using props and modernizing them the “NDA way.” This activity was a lot of fun because we got to see different interpretations of many familiar stories and lessons. Emily Himelrick ’17 found the retreat to be a great way to distress.

Something completely brand new to the retreat, that everyone unanimously loved, was the ending prayer service. Instead of a traditional liturgy, there were eight different stations for the eight different forms of prayer. At the stations there were different activities for each form. I went to the logic station where I wrote names of different people and different situations that I wanted to pray about on a worksheet-type paper. It was also interesting to see and talk with others who have the same prayer style as I do.

Campus Minister, Ms. Kelley comments on the retreat, “It was a big success. I am so proud of the team leaders. The retreat team leaders worked hard preparing during the snow days to put on this retreat for the class of 2017.”

Along with the many stories shared, including three lovely witness talks from Sally Stover ’15, Deidre Gunning ’15, and Maddie Tesauro ‘15, there were many laughs and great memories made with the class of 2017!