For over four decades, Junior Retreat has remained a core tradition for generations of GC students, serving as a staple for the Good Counsel community. Although the retreat is cloaked in secrecy for much of the student body to preserve its effects, it has long served to draw both students and teachers closer together and unify our Falcon Family.
Former alumni of the retreat viewed it as an excellent opportunity to connect with peers and foster friendships within and outside their core peer group. One student, Zoe Emad ‘25, encapsulated the retreat’s meaning, describing it as “an opportunity to connect and relate with others.” Zoe also emphasize the lasting effects of the Junior retreat on many students, some of whom decide to return as leaders in their senior year because of the impact it had on them as participants: “I also think it shows how much retreat resonates with students because a lot of seniors choose to go back and lead retreat their senior year because their junior retreat was so special to them.
Additionally, Danny Chung-A-Fung, a member of GC’s graduating class of 2023, was profoundly impacted by the retreat, as it allowed him to “reflect on my life at that moment and some of the choices I was making. By the end, I realized that I needed to make some changes in multiple areas of my life, and I definitely came out a better person than when I came in.” Similarly to Zoe, Junior retreat helped Danny to “develop close-knit relationships with my fellow participants.” Additionally, through this experience, Danny grew closer to both friends that he knew, and those he did not; some of these individuals Danny is still friends with today, even after graduating from Good Counsel: “The conversations and activities we did helped me to get closer with friends I knew and with people I didn’t know as well. Some of those people who I didn’t know going into the retreat are some of the people I still talk to today.”
Mrs. Bykoswki ‘08, a Good Counsel alumnus and current Director of Campus Ministry, describes the Junior retreat as a way for students to step away from their daily lives, including school work, and focus solely on reflecting on their individual lives. A key feature of the retreat, stressed by Mrs. Bykoswki, is “the opportunity to step away from everything for a few days and create space to truly reflect in a community of peers who ‘mutually edify and encourage one another’ is an incredible gift.” Furthermore, as a member of Good Counsel’s graduating class of 2008, she can confidently say that the retreat has remained nearly identical to her experience and has still kept its core theme of community building. Unfortunately, due to the importance of keeping the retreat’s contents a secret, Mrs. Bykoswki is unable to share specific details. However, she argues that “continuity is part of its continued strength as a program,” because it maintains a shared experience among the school’s student body. As a teacher, Mrs. Bykowski values the opportunity to connect with her colleagues on a personal level, which mirrors the student experience. Additionally, as a teacher, she also notes that the retreat gives her a “more holistic understanding of them (students) as humans.”
Overall, Junior retreat is deeply valued by students, faculty, and staff, and a guiding tool in building Good Counsel’s close-knit family. Most importantly, Junior retreat has remained a key staple for the Good Counsel community. As a closing remark, Mrs. Bykoswki perfectly encapsulated the student experience by again stressing the retreat’s community building purpose: “the students who really feel impacted by retreat come away with a better understanding of themselves and others — and that can go a long way toward shaping the culture of a class for the better.”
Sources: Our Lady of Good Counsel High School- Campus Ministry- Retreats
Interviews: Zoe Emad, Mrs. Margaret Bykowski Smith ’08, and Danny Chung-A-fung ‘23