The Associated Students of Walla Walla University’s outdoors, spiritual, and social departments came together to organize the first joint Spring Retreat at Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory. The retreat took place on the weekend of April 22–24, and more than 100 students were bused to Rosario where they stayed in cabins and enjoyed various activities hosted by the different ASWWU departments.
Nicholas Humphries, junior business major and ASWWU Outdoors trip leader, came up with the idea for a joint trip and brought it up to the ASWWU Spiritual and Social leaders. Normally, ASWWU Outdoors does a trip to Rosario in the spring, but this year the ASWWU department leaders wanted to make the trip bigger and more enjoyable for more students.
On Saturday afternoon, students were free to do whatever they wanted, but they had the option of choosing activities presented by each of the departments. ASWWU Social provided painting supplies, ASWWU Outdoors led a hike, and ASWWU Spiritual organized a stillness and slowness workshop.
Mitchell Powers, junior theology major and head of ASWWU Spiritual, said of the stillness and slowness workshop, “The idea was for people to find a place outside that emboldened peace and for them to read aloud Psalm 23 and to meditate on what God would suggest rest to be for them in that moment.”
ASWWU Spiritual also provided a Friday night vespers, a Sabbath morning church service, and an evening bonfire worship on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
Julianna Conrad, sophomore psychology major, participated in the trip and said, “My favorite memory was the worship on Saturday night because we had a bonfire and it was on a cliff by the ocean. I just remember being warm by the bonfire and seeing the stars out and hearing the water. It was a really calming experience.”
The trip was very popular among the students, with signups filling up within the first hour they were available. Humphries hopes that this will become an annual retreat so that more students can enjoy the Rosario campus.
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