Dear High School Community,

Next weekend, a group of our High School students will step away from their normal routines to participate in our Vida Nueva retreat, which means “New Life.” It is a voluntary retreat, marked by prayer, sermons, drama, silence, and long conversations about Christian faith. While it lasts only a few days, its purpose reaches far beyond a weekend.

In Mark’s Gospel, we read that Jesus appointed the twelve “so that they might be with him and he might send them out” (Mark 3:14). That simple pattern, with Him and sent out, has always defined Christian formation. We withdraw in order to return. We gather in order to be sent. We receive in order to give.

Vida Nueva exists within that rhythm. As a committed Christian school, our daily work is already deeply formative. In classrooms, students encounter truth. In the arts, they are trained to recognize beauty. In athletics and service, they practice perseverance and sacrifice. Faculty labor faithfully to cultivate wisdom and virtue across disciplines. This steady, ordered formation is not secondary to spiritual life, it is an expression of it. And yet, there are moments when stepping aside matters.

Throughout Scripture, we see God meeting His people in focused times of retreat; Moses on Sinai (Exodus 19:3–6; 24:12–18), Elijah in the quiet whisper (1 Kings 19:11–13), the disciples away with Christ (Mark 6:30–32), Paul in Arabia (Galatians 1:15–18). These were not escapes from responsibility, but preparations for it. Clarity often comes when noise is reduced. Conviction often deepens when space is made for reflection. Vida Nueva is one such space.

I am particularly grateful for the leadership that has shaped this retreat in recent years. Under the care of our spiritual formation coordinator, Mr. White, and our dean of student life, Christina Daniel, Vida Nueva has become intentionally inclusive, not a badge of spiritual status, but an open invitation to growth. Just as importantly, student leaders are being formed in a culture of service rather than spiritual elitism. I am very pleased with the fruit of their labors.