The end of the school year is drawing closer by the day, and with the end of the school year comes almost everyone’s favorite season: summer! Summertime for most people means vacations to the beach, relaxing in the sun or going swimming. For others, though, the summer season means the yearly summer youth retreats are happening!

Steubenville 

One of the biggest retreats of the summer is the Steubenville youth conferences. Steubenville is a huge conference at Missouri State where youth groups from all over the Midwest come together for a weekend of Jesus and fun. This year’s retreat, just like everything else, is going to have some changes from previous years.

Like usual, there will be two different sessions on two different weekends so more people can come. However, the overall capacity for each weekend has changed. Melissa Boesch, coordinator of events, says that seating and sleeping arrangements have also changed.

“In a typical year, we can host 4,500 participants each weekend. This year, we are operating at a limited capacity of 1,700, which is about a third of usual. In previous years, three participants would be housed to a room if they stayed in a Missouri State residence hall. This year, only two participants will be housed together,” Boesch said.

Despite the changes, everyone is excited to see Steubenville return this year after an abrupt cancellation last summer. Teens have already begun registering for the weekend and getting excited.

“I was super sad when Steubenville got cancelled last summer so I’m super stoked that it’s back this year. My friends and I have already signed up to go,” junior Elise Cope said.

Christpower

Another super awesome retreat during the summer is St. Joseph Cottleville’s Christpower. Christpower is a week long service retreat where teens go around the surrounding community and perform acts of service.

Unlike previous years, this year’s Christpower is expected to be just a daytime retreat as opposed to the usual overnight retreat. Daily mass will still be held for everyone to attend each morning, and most of the usual service projects should be included as well.

“This year’s Christpower is definitely going to look a lot different than usual but I’m so glad we get to have it. This is one of my favorite parts of summer so it’s good to know I’ll hopefully have this this summer,” junior Emilee Gettings said.

Gather up some friends and sign up for one (or both) of these awesome retreats this summer! They are both sure to be amazing, no matter what extra precautions there are to keep us safe.