Every quarter, McNicholas High School dedicates a day to teach students about what it means to be a leader. This day is coordinated by Mr. Todd Naumann, Student Culture Coordinator, and the Xavier Leadership Center. This retreat has gone on for three years at McNicholas. He said that the retreat was at Moeller that he previously taught at, and he thought it was a good opportunity to bring it to McNick. Naumann described the retreat in three words: “Faith, family, fun which leads to formation.”
“The purpose of this retreat is to provide opportunities for people to grow in leadership skills.” Naumann said, Throughout the sophomore year, Naumann said, “The goal is two things: to create opportunities and to help develop skills to be more effective leaders.”
Naumann described the retreat in three words: “Faith, family, fun which leads to formation.”
Sophomore Ava Wille has mixed feelings on the days. “I like it to an extent…I like the fact that I can hang out with my friends and everything. I don’t like the way that they almost force us to be leaders because some of us are a little shy and don’t want to” she said.
Wille feels there are alternatives that she feels would make the day a bit more positive of an experience She said, “It could be like a student-class get along because we are a little mean to each other, and I think we all need to get along, and so we can use that day to get to know more about each other and where everyone is coming from.”
Wille continued, “I don’t think I gain anything from it, and everyone is just sitting there, and I feel like they try to force it on us, and no one wants that.”
Kennedy Kramer, sophomore, agreed and has values that lie in a different place than the program’s focuses. Kramer said, “I think if they’re going to take us out of our academics, I think they should do it a little different like make it more engaging like the days of renewal to build up our relationships with each other.”
When it comes to the results of the days, Wille said, “I’ve learned how to be a leader in the workplace which I don’t do because I don’t work.” Throughout the day, Wille said, “We will be in groups and split in out flights and do what the speaker wants and then go to the aux gym and do the same thing and we will do mass at the end.”
Kramer explained that the day is made up of sitting in chairs in the gym and listening to a rotation of panels. Wille said, “I don’t think they understand that all of us are completely different from each other besides the people we choose to hang out with.”
As far as reasoning for the program goes, Wille said, “I think they want us to do this because we all are not that nice to each other, and we all need to be close” which is a fair reasoning for a high school environment.
*Disclaimer: This is a student editorial which is based on the opinions of the students for the students
The McNicholas Milestone 
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