My Experience on the October Leadership Retreat
By Kyle Ebert
My name is Kyle Ebert, and I am a class of 2016 graduate of Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, New Jersey. I would like to take this opportunity to share my amazing and unforgettable experience on OLR with my Salesian family from around the Eastern United States. OLR has really been a life-changing experience that has helped me grow, not only in my faith and closer to God, but as a young Catholic leader looking to make a positive impact on my community.
During my journey on OLR, we had this activity near the end of the retreat where we passed a candle around to each person, and while the candle was in our possession, we had to answer one or both of the following questions: where did you find Jesus during the retreat? And what did you learn from the retreat experience that you will take back to your school community? Both of these questions ultimately had the same meaning, and that was to ask yourself: “where did you find Jesus, and how will you incorporate him into your life, and the lives of those around you?” My answer to this ultimate question was simply that I found Jesus on OLR! I believe this is an appropriate answer because I have never felt more comfortable expressing my feelings with a group of people I had never met in my entire life, than I did at OLR.
This really opened up my eyes to understand that I found Jesus in all my fellow participants, my small group, the young team, my high school community, and the group of role models that I now look up to that made this experience possible. As for how I will incorporate Jesus into my life and the lives of those around me, I would have to say I am taking back a new standpoint in which I perceive others and in the way I carry myself. Together, by accepting change for the better, my fellow participants and I can help to change the world!
This experience was an opportunity to grow closer to God and really understand my vocation in his ultimate plan. I really found a connection with God specifically in my small group. This experience has helped me look at the world with a whole new perspective as far as what my priorities are in life, and how the morals and virtues that I have gathered throughout the retreat will help guide me down the right path.
OLR will always mark the new birth of the new me, which I would like to express to my Salesian family, in that this is by far one of (if not the best) experiences I have encountered in my entire life. If you get the opportunity to attend this life-altering experience, I recommend that you should highly consider it, and make sure you do so with an open mind and an open heart to Christ.
During my journey on OLR, we had this activity near the end of the retreat where we passed a candle around to each person, and while the candle was in our possession, we had to answer one or both of the following questions: where did you find Jesus during the retreat? And what did you learn from the retreat experience that you will take back to your school community? Both of these questions ultimately had the same meaning, and that was to ask yourself: “where did you find Jesus, and how will you incorporate him into your life, and the lives of those around you?” My answer to this ultimate question was simply that I found Jesus on OLR! I believe this is an appropriate answer because I have never felt more comfortable expressing my feelings with a group of people I had never met in my entire life, than I did at OLR.
This really opened up my eyes to understand that I found Jesus in all my fellow participants, my small group, the young team, my high school community, and the group of role models that I now look up to that made this experience possible. As for how I will incorporate Jesus into my life and the lives of those around me, I would have to say I am taking back a new standpoint in which I perceive others and in the way I carry myself. Together, by accepting change for the better, my fellow participants and I can help to change the world!
This experience was an opportunity to grow closer to God and really understand my vocation in his ultimate plan. I really found a connection with God specifically in my small group. This experience has helped me look at the world with a whole new perspective as far as what my priorities are in life, and how the morals and virtues that I have gathered throughout the retreat will help guide me down the right path.
OLR will always mark the new birth of the new me, which I would like to express to my Salesian family, in that this is by far one of (if not the best) experiences I have encountered in my entire life. If you get the opportunity to attend this life-altering experience, I recommend that you should highly consider it, and make sure you do so with an open mind and an open heart to Christ.