Emotions tell the story of Search VIII retreat

by Renee Di Pietro assistant features editor

Monday, March 19 --jBeforej

Everything was in place. In one week it would all be over. The leaders are ready for the weekend and now they are just dealing with stress and excitement

"We just hope the retreatants get the experience that they deserve," Geronna Lewis said. She is a leader for Search VIII, the student retreat that is growing bigger within the student body. Lewis is a sophomore and a studio art and graphic design major and is happy that Search is expanding throughout the campus community.

"You could walk around each floor of the resident halls and bump into as least 2-3 people who have been on Search," she said.

The Search retreat is a weekend when a small number of students are led by 10 other students to Apple Farms in New Jersey for an alternative weekend.

"It's about individual time," Lewis said. She feels the stereotype Search receives as being a retreat of searching for one's own self is a definition that is trying the best to describe the indescribable. The exact layout of the weekend cannot be revealed by anyone who has been on Search, but Lewis said the title of the retreat exemplifies a universal message.

--.

"In life, everyone is always searching," Lewis said, "and when we find what we're looking for, the cycle just begins again," Jennelle Battle, first-year fashion marketing major, is going on Search. She wants to just get away and relax from the normal stresses of school and studying. Battle is no stranger to retreats. At her high school, she used to go on retreats every year. The retreats she went on helped students to get to know one another by separating them into groups away from their friends.

"My high school retreats helped bring students together through the experience of meeting new people," Battle said. She believes that Search works on campus through the same way. Battle enjoys discussing eye-opening issues and thinks that one of the main reason reasons she enjoys retreats so much is because she gets to explore different topics of thought that are not common to find anywhere else.

"I expect to mature and grow on Search," Battle said, with a sense of confidence and excitement.

"Search is not specifically a Catholic thing, but a reflective time," Mary Laver said, campus minister. "There is an invitation into experiencing the deepest voices of love, the affirmation of who you are and that you are not alone when you feel like you are."

Monday, March 26,

-----11 After

Three students sit down in the Wigwam for lunch: Gina Boccella, Lauren O'Shea, and Lincoln Strehle. They never knew each the previous week and probably would have never met without their decision to go on Search VIII. When they are asked to describe how their decision to go on Search VIII has effected them, Boccella sums up her favorite result from the decision.

"Five people who never knew each other before the retreat, met in the parking lot and now are best friends," Boccella said, a first-year communication major.

"I cannot go into detail about the weekend, but it was a different experience," Strehle said, a sophomore managing information systems major.

If you are someone who has tried to ask a person about the retreat you probably know already, Search is full of secrets. Most people will use emotions and reactions to the retreat when talking about it.

"Amazing and speechless are two words to describe it," Boccella said.

"People come out more in the fall because they are getting back into the rhythm of meeting deadlines and the retreat is a nice escape from the week," Dr. Laver said.

The Campus Ministry is cur- rently talking with the Campus Ministry at Neumann College about the possibility of helping them begin the Search retreat at their school, just as Scranton University helped Cabrini get the Search retreat up and running.

'This program is a wonderful community builder on this campus and a jumpstart for people to enhance their spiritual lives," Dr. Laver said.

"I recommend that every one on this campus go on Search," Renee Jerman said. She is a first-year special education major, recalling her experience on Search VII as the best experience of her life.

Search VIII Retreat Breakdown

Residents 66%

34%