Knowing Yourself: A Retreat with the Leopards Hill students

Who am I? Who is God calling me to be? Those are the same questions we ask our students at BC High, only today we were asking them of the students at Leopards Hill School. Standing in front of a few hundred students at 8 am made us nervous, but their enthusiasm and the great example of their teachers had us feeling comfortable in no time.

From the beginning we emphasized that the retreat was about the individual, the community, and God. For a few minutes the kids were chanting “Today is about me! Today is about us! Today is about God!”

Four outstanding LHS students prepared witness talks for the retreat. After we split into “Juniors” (8^th and 9^th grade) and “Seniors” (grades 10^th-12^th) two of those students spoke to the groups about highs and lows in their lives. Then the students had quiet time to write about their own highs and lows. It was a simple beginning to the day, but we would come back to those ideas later in the day, after tea break.

Tea break is a very important part of the day, from 10:00-10:30. Our team is already hooked on the idea of having time to relax, have a snack, and talk to our friends during the morning. We are learning so much from Zambian culture!

When tea break concluded we gathered again as a small group and Mr. Bonina talked about St. Ignatius and how he made decisions based on some of the highs and lows in his life. It was clear why Mr. Bonina is such a popular Christian Thought teacher after watching him speak with so much enthusiasm about the life of Ignatius.

Our last two student speakers picked up on the same theme, explaining how their experiences shaped their decisions. We then asked all students to think about what kinds of decisions they want to make and what kind of people they want to be based their lives and on what they think God wants of them.

Each LHS teacher gathered a small group of about 15 students into a circle on the courtyard and students shared their answers. You could tell that most students enjoyed having the opportunity to share with their classmates and teachers. At the end of this session we asked each group to come up with one adjective that would describe a model LHS graduate, much like the “Grad at Grad” adjectives we use at BC High.

Words included “hard-working”, “determined”, “God-filled”, “humble”, and “compassionate”. Mrs. Pope helped everyone put the words into a collage that they can use to remember what we did on retreat. After closing prayer, she also gave BC High t-shirts to the students who prepared talks.

The retreat was over by lunchtime, but our day continued after lunch with the students in high spirits (both because we were there, and because it was the last day of school before a four-week break). The 8^th grade did a presentation on Zambia’s flag, logo and system of government, and teachers prepared traditional Zambian games for the students to play in the afternoon. Some were familiar – like hopscotch and jump rope, and some were new to us.

Before sending the students off to their term break, Ms. Lungu led the students in the Zambian national anthem, a fitting end to our inspiring day with the next generation of Zambian leaders.