Kairos Retreat Marks Return
By Olivia Hardin '22
Throughout these four years, I have been offered dozens of opportunities to not only serve my community but also become closer to God. One of the opportunities that I am most thankful for is Kairos because it has shaped the way that I live my life and greatly impacted the way that I participate in my faith.
I remember the first time I heard about Kairos freshman year from a teammate. She had said that she couldn’t tell me about it and had only said that it was the greatest experience of her life.
She remarked that everyone grew closer. As a fifteen year old freshman, this mystery excited me and I decided that I would sign up when I was old enough. During my junior year of high school I had finally reached the age that I could sign up but was unable to due to COVID-19.
Thankfully the next year Mrs. Phenicie, Spirit Life Director, announced that seniors would be able to sign up which had not been the case in previous years. Naturally, I signed up for Kairos but I did not know what to expect.
“I was anxious to start the program again almost from scratch,” commented Mrs. Phenicie. “But there was something really special about seeing the Senior core team both lead and experience the chaperone at the same time.”
“We also had two DCHS and retreat alumni chaperone, which was a great full circle moment,” added Mrs. Phenicie.
I wasn’t necessarily that close with the majority of the people who were going and I never even talked to one of the girls who I shared a room with. It is safe to say that I was very nervous for the three days that I was about to spend with my classmates.
From the very first night, I learned that I would have to be vulnerable with these people that I had barely talked to outside of the classroom. This was difficult for me because I am not one to tell my life story to just anyone, let alone a group of people.
However, this became far easier as the days went on because I was able to understand and trust the people there. Together we laughed, cried, and prayed together which created a feeling that I had never experienced before.
Through Kairos, I grew to know these random classmates as my family and knew that they would be there for me. Together we grew in our faith and made relationships that will last a lifetime.
It has been nearly four months since the Kairos retreat and although I cannot tell what all happened that weekend, I can safely say that my life has changed since then.
I now talk to those not so random classmates in the hallways and spend my mornings in the chapel. I am forever grateful for the amazing opportunity that was Kairos and I hope that future generations of Delone will learn to love this retreat as much as I did.
