Is everybody ready to humble? The Catholic Center at Tufts certainly hopes so. The center is one of many Tufts organizations - religious and otherwise - to offer a variety of weekend retreats to interested students. These retreats provide those students with an opportunity to meet and interact with others who share similar interests or backgrounds, and often, students speak positively of their retreat experiences.
One such student is senior George Rausch, who, as a freshman, went on a weekend retreat with the German House, one of many theme and culture houses at Tufts to offer such trips.
"It was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun trying to speak with the four weeks of German that I knew," Rausch said of the retreat, which was organized in association with the German Language Department and included professors and students taking all levels of German. The purpose of the trip was total immersion in the language.
The purpose of the Catholic Center's three annual retreats is somewhat different: "It's important to have newcomers know there is a Catholic community," said junior and Catholic Community at Tufts (CCT) president Annah Jones, adding that the center's retreats are not limited to Catholic students and that all faiths are welcomed.
The first of the Catholic Center's retreats is offered in the fall, and is geared toward freshmen and transfer students. Its purpose? To help students relate religion to college life. All the Catholic Center's retreats are designed and run by students, and the speakers are also students. Having retreat leaders who are college age "helps people who are on the retreats identify with the person," Jones said.
The second retreat, offered at the beginning of the spring, alternates every year between the Prayer Retreat, which is a "faith encounter," and the Emmaus Retreat, which "[looks] at our relationship with God using the scripture account of Jesus meeting his two disciples on the road to Emmaus," said Tufts Catholic Chaplain Ann Penick, director of the CCT and Catholic Center.
The retreat is typically an in-depth look at spirituality and faith, and is more "meat and potatoes [than the fall retreat]," according to Penick. It is designed to encourage students to reflect on coming to terms with their faith.
"We [Catholics] are liberal and open, despite how the media portrays us," Jones said.
Unfortunately for students planning on attending, this spring's retreat was canceled due to inclement weather.
Towards the end of the spring, the CCT offers its final retreat, a brief one-day event for all Tufts students who are being confirmed.
Tufts Protestant Student Fellowship (PSF) also views retreats as a way to deepen spiritual understanding. PSF holds a two-day weekend retreat every semester, with the purpose of sharing time with people who have common goals and values.
"A big part of it is bonding," said junior Seth Lancaster, one of the event's student planners. "We do schedule a lot of time that is unscheduled."
Each retreat has a specific topic; this semester's focus is on consumerism. The retreat will be held Apr. 13, and will focus on how being a Christian affects the types of products people buy.
According to Lancaster, the number of students who attend the retreats varies from semester to semester (many, he said, may be drawn by the fact that the retreat is completely free and that anyone can attend). There are often guest lectures, and group discussions, but there is plenty of free time to spend with other students.
The retreats offered at Tufts are not all religious in nature. In fact, the resident assistants (RAs) who live in the dorms attend a two-day retreat during the beginning of their training. This retreat includes the entire Residential Life and Learning staff, and its intent is to build bonds throughout the Residential Life community that will last throughout the school year.
According to Associate Director of Residential Life and Learning Donna Denoncourt, the retreats typically include "team bonding activities [and] a guest speaker discussing the RA position as a role model and campus leader, [and] also fun stuff including bonfires and sing-alongs."
"The goal is to bring the entire staff together outside of the Tufts environment [to] learn from each other, have fun together in order to build bonds and build trust, as the job is demanding for the individual and the team," Denoncourt said.
The EPIIC program (Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship) holds a retreat as well. Called the Outward Bound retreat, it takes place at the beginning of the school year at Hurricane Island in Rockland, Maine. Students in the program participate in a weekend of team-building activities designed to encourage trust and communication.
According to Institute of Global Leadership (and EPIIC) Director Sherman Teichman, the retreat is meant to create an intellectual team. "It creates a sense of accountability," Teichman said, adding that the location was specifically chosen to help students appreciate the "value of being in the wilderness."
Still, some students at Tufts have little interest in attending retreats, be they religious, social or academic.
"Those things don't interest me - I'm too laid back to get up and go on a retreat with a bunch of people," senior Adam Landy said. "Retreats are too hippy-ish, and I hate hippies."
