Ending the Year with Purpose: The ‘Anchored’ Retreat

As appeared in The Crown on Feb 25, 2025

By: Ryan Posey

King’s College Campus Ministry has been hard at work to start off the spring semester. Within the first few weeks of the semester the Campus Ministry team comprised of Echo Apprentice Coutney Schmidt and Deacon Richard Bevington hosted a winter retreat at the Holy Family Retreat Center in Nanticoke during the weekend of January 31-February 2. The retreat offered students a chance to discount from class and focus on their faith. 

“I loved being disconnected and it was nice to have time away from school. It was a very rejuvenating trip,” said student Veronica McClelland.

Now, only weeks after the winter retreat took place, the Campus Ministry Team is hard at work again, preparing for the upcoming retreat titled “Anchored.”  As the name “Anchored” reflects, the retreat will follow the theme of finding your own anchor within your life and learning how you can weather your own storm. Participants can get away from their busy life on campus for a weekend and take some time away to slow down and focus on their own lives.

Set to take place this Spring on the weekend of April 4-6, “Anchored” is a yearly retreat that serves students who have not been involved with Campus Ministry before. The retreat also gives those who are actively involved within campus ministry a chance to get something positive out of the experience. 

This will also be the first time that the “Anchored” retreat is offered in the spring semester since the 2022-2023 academic year. Last academic year, the “Anchored” retreat took place during a weekend in the fall semester. However, students who attended the “You are God’s Beloved” in the Fall 2024 will find a new program with the “Anchored” retreat.

In this retreat, students will have the chance to take part in small and large group discussions with the purpose being to explore, reflect on and discuss topics related to their spiritual life. These talks can range from all levels of faith including those who have never talked about their faith before to those who look for every opportunity to deepen their faith.  

The retreat is led by a group of student leaders that are active within Campus Ministry throughout the school year and are very excited for the upcoming retreat. 

The group will depart from campus outside of the Campus Ministry office on the afternoon of Friday, January 31 at around 3 p.m. The first evening’s events will include icebreaker activities, introductions to both small group and large group reflections and some student talks. 

On Saturday, the activities will include three talks given by student leaders, with time for small group discussions and large group activities in between. On Sunday, the last reflections will be had, and the group will depart and return to campus at 12 p.m. on Sunday. This retreat allows for students to experience the retreat while still having time to return to campus and complete anything they have to before the weekend is over.  

With the name of the retreat being “Anchored” the retreat will follow the theme of finding your own anchor within your life and learning how you can weather your own storm. This opportunity allows students to get away from the busy life on campus and take some time away to slow down and focus on what they perceive as meaningful within their own lives.  

Students at all levels of their faith are more than welcome to join and are encouraged to go onto the retreat. By experiencing a retreat such as “Anchored,” this could open up more doors within Campus Ministry for a student and could also lead to attending other retreats in the future.

This is the final retreat of the 2024-25 academic year. Sign-ups will be available soon. If this retreat sounds like something that you may be interested in, be on the lookout for sign-ups and reach out to Campus Ministry if you have questions or would like to receive further information.