Middle school students were challenged to look inward to discover their God-given gifts and abilities and to find ways to use them to show God’s love to others at a one-day Middle School Spiritual Emphasis Retreat on Friday, May 7 held at the ACS campus.
The retreat program incorporated a series of 22 short videos entitled “Show and Tell…It’s Your Moment,” which were created by the Association of Christian Schools International for its Virtual Leadership Conference this year. Upper School Principal Meg McHale felt the topic of the video series was a perfect fit for the middle school retreat.
“The videos were very powerful and helped our students to better identify their own gifts and strengths, to sharpen their ability to work with others, and to help them create a proactive plan on how to engage their own community with God’s love,” McHale said.
Over the course of the day, the students broke up into 14 different small groups, divided by grade level and gender, to discuss and reflect on the videos and also to participate in activities and games. Each discussion group was led by a teacher or adult volunteer and each student had a workbook to fill in as the day progressed.
McHale said some of the ideas for projects that the students came up with during the retreat were focused on encouraging their peers, raising funds for outside organizations, and helping those hurting in our community by providing bags for their personal needs.
The retreat opened with worship provided by Mrs. Jane Zigner and lunch was provided by Chido Burrito.
