With COVID-19 taking us by surprise last school-year, there are many things students and faculty have been speculating about. Will there be a football season? Will we have school? Will we have Homecoming? Faculty made sure that annual back-to-school retreats happened in the best way possible. It may not have been at Sky Ranch as usual, but Retreat came with some new changes and traditions that made it one to remember.

The first day of Retreat, involving only the Senior class, was a day for friends to return and see one another after the extended break. “I loved that all of the Seniors were able to come back together after quarantine and had fun creating new traditions like Senior sunrise, Pre-school designed backpacks and others,” said Senior, Grant Arthur.

The first day was focused on how to make senior year memorable for years to come. A large part of the day was spent trying to bring back forgotten traditions of the Upper School while also fitting in new ones. Some of the new traditions added include: car decorating night, bringing back the “on hiatus but never forgotten” Bleacher Boys spirit group and decorating jeans for Spirit days. Seniors tried to keep a positive attitude towards this year’s retreat and Grant said, “This year’s Retreat wasn’t ideal, but I think everyone enjoyed seeing each other again.”

PCA staff put in time and effort to make this the best Retreat experience they could. The administration was up to the task of making Retreat happen for the whole Upper School and were keen on providing an experience as close to the real one as possible.

“We are really blessed at PCA with a great staff who is always willing to help, as well as the support and generous use of facilities, media support and even a retreat speaker from Prestonwood Baptist Church,” said Director of Campus Ministries, Mrs. Lainie Montgomery. “The generosity of the Church and the great collaboration of the PCA staff enabled us to bring everyone together.”