Every year, NDB juniors and seniors await the Kairos retreat, a four-day event from November 2 to November 5 in which NDB students get the opportunity to reflect on themselves and their relationships through prayer and group activities. This retreat is welcome to any upperclasswomen who would like to participate, and it is led by a group of seniors along with NDB faculty. The Catalyst sat down with Kairos director Douglas Requilman to discuss the importance of this retreat.

The Catalyst (TC): What is the purpose of this retreat for students?
Douglas Requilman (DR): The purpose of Kairos is to develop self growth, and it’s also to prepare ourselves before going into your college years. Kairos is a specific moment in time where we get to know ourselves, but also bask in the blessings that we have. And so it’s not only about ourselves but what helps us grow as a person.

TC: Why do you recommend that students attend Kairos?
DR: I recommend students attend Kairos because, looking back at my own Kairos experience, it was fun because it made me feel that I’m not alone in this journey. I want to remind everybody that you’re never going to be walking alone; you’re always going to have this group of people that have gone with you in Kairos.

TC: Would you consider Kairos as a pivotal moment in the transition between a young kid in high school and a young adult in college?
DR: Yes, because there’s a moment where we become vulnerable. For me, I discovered that the way I looked at life was very pessimistic, and there were better decisions that I could make. And so when we get into that moment of being a young adult, there are going to be decisions that entail sacrifice, and because of Kairos, I feel like those difficult decisions were still difficult, but they were a lot easier to make because of what I built up in that Kairos retreat.

TC: Can you still draw on your experiences from Kairos today?
DR: A hundred percent, and you can see that sometimes in my classroom and how I interact with people. My goal is to always create this genuine connection with every student, my colleagues, the teachers here.

TC: Has COVID-19 impacted Kairos in any way?
DR: Heavily, in the most negative way. The seniors that were supposed to lead couldn’t lead and the juniors, the rising seniors of last year, couldn’t go because of COVID. And it creates more of a veil, it creates more of a mystery behind what Kairos is, and people are more reluctant to go to Kairos because not a lot of people are talking about it and usually the seniors and juniors come back and talk about it. However, in a way, you just have to experience it. You have to just go find out for yourself. So that’s the hurdle we’re trying to jump right now.