I got back about an hour ago from a NYU Residential Education-hosted social justice retreat held at Camp Deer Run (2 hours upstate). Each participant was nominated by someone in their residence hall and then if interested, had to submit an application. 50 students were selected from the 150 applications and I am so grateful that I was one of them. This experience was life changing and something I wish everyone could go through.
Last week we had a pre-departure meeting and part of it consisted of breaking up into small groups to discuss "Whether or not NYU has diversity." I thought this was an extremely interesting topic to lead it off with because it is a dialogue that I hear occurring quite frequently with faculty on campus. Anyway, that got me really excited about the retreat which exceeded my expectations by miles.
We participated in multiple large group activities and also broke up into four smaller cohorts to discuss multiple categories and themes that are a part of the broader "social justice" issue. I have certainly come out a changed and MUCH more knowledgeable person. At the end we had to go around in a circle and say one word that described how we were feeling at that moment--"enlightened" was mine.
The people on the retreat--all 50 participants and all 10 facilitators (CDE's and ACDE's from various residence halls)--each came to the table with such a variety of backgrounds and were so willing to share those with the group. It's so hard to explain the impact that this weekend has had on me but please please please take advantage of any and all opportunities given to you throughout your life--you never know what they can do for you and how they can teach you to do for others!