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The Golden Eagle
A man found an eagle’s egg
And placed it under a brooding hen.
The eaglet hatched with the chickens
And grew to be like them. He clucked and cockled;
Scratched the earth for worms;
Flapped his wings
And managed to fly a metre into the air
…..……..years passed.
One day the eagle, now grown old,
Saw a magnificent bird above him in the sky.
It glided in graceful majesty against the powerful wind,
With scarcely a movement of its golden wings.
Spellbound,
The eagle asked,
“Who’s that?” “That’s the king of the birds, the eagle,”
said his neighbour.
“He belongs to the sky.
We belong to the earth….
“We’re chooks.!” So the eagle lived and died a chicken,
For that’s what he thought he was. The QUEST Retreat is an important way of introducing our new Year 8s to the St Norbert College Community and philosophy. This unique, special event is designed to build unity and spirit. The Retreat is an activity which builds community and friendship among the Year 8 class and exposes incoming students to the lived culture of faith in God within the St Norbert College community expressed through the vision of Christ and the charisms of St Norbert. At this critical moment, when our Year 8s stand on the threshold of five years of secondary education, the QUEST Retreat provides an opportunity for them to ponder and imagine just what God’s dream for each of them might be! The Retreat is held in Term two and runs over the Saturday and Sunday of a weekend. It is a non-residential retreat. This Retreat is a requirement for all Year 8s. The QUEST Retreat is a mixture of fun times, serious times, working and praying together. A team of Year 12 students (Cadré) and teachers oversee the Retreat, which is lead by Year 11 Quest Ministers. The Retreat draws upon students’ everyday experiences of God as Love, and seeks to provide an opportunity for the Year 8s to share their experiences with each other in a supportive atmosphere. The QUEST Retreat also fosters genuine pastoral care through a “buddy” system in which the Year 11 Quest Ministers ‘adopt’ three little brothers or sisters. Each Quest Minister takes full responsibility for his/her three ‘little brothers or sisters’ and leads all of the small group activities as well as welcoming their little brothers or sisters into their home. The Cadré and the Quest Ministers are supported by the Year 10 Student Ministry team who work as ‘roadies’ on the retreat. A whole team of staff also work the entire weekend of the Retreat and parents of the Year 11 Quest Ministers are also involved. At the end of this retreat Year 8 students know that it is good to be an eagle, their vision of themselves is expanded through the collective strength of their older brothers and sisters. They experience greater freedom to be who they really are. They experience a sense of belonging and a deep sense of brotherly/sisterly fun, enthusiasm, affection and love. They feel a deeper connection with their classmates, their older St Norbert brothers and sisters and they know they are part of a very special community. Aims of the Quest Retreat - To provide an experience of welcome into a Christian community to the Year 8s and their parents, by valuing them as unique and important.
- To provide an experience of “welcoming others” into a Christian community for the senior students and their families.
- To promote a sense of belonging, by engaging the Year 8 students in a range of reflective and active experiences initiating them into the Christian culture of the St Norbert College faith community.
- To provide opportunities for the Year 8 students to experience, reflect and discuss the nature of God; his presence in their lives; and how a Christian community breathes life into their faith and its development.
- To provide an experience of prayer and prayerful reflection for all retreatants and to promote the importance of shared faith experience.
- To provide a direct experience of the spiritual nature of being human by reflecting on the presence of God in their lives through the action of love in family and friends.
- To provide an experience of being “a person for others” through the act of Christian service (canned food collection) and to provide time to reflect on this experience.
- To provide opportunities to our senior students to act as mentors, using Christian principles and the life of Christ as a living example.
- To provide an experience of inclusion, acceptance, trust and fun for all participants.
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