Students bond at women’s retreat
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By Maizy Swift, Production Editor/Asst. A&E Editor
On the weekend of March 2, Manhattan College’s female students, as well as campus minister Jubilee Aguilar, attended the annual Women’s Retreat in Goshen, New York.
This retreat welcomes all students who identify as female to come together for a bonding experience embracing womanhood as well as reflecting and relaxing.
“The overall goal of the women’s retreat is having an area to talk about their feelings, and just be without the presence of masculine energy,” Aguilar said. “It’s open to anybody who’s identified as a woman.”
Each year, students are accompanied by student leaders who run exercises for the groups to do. This year in particular, many of the activities were focused on self-expression and reflection.
“This year, we happened to do a lot of very artsy workshops that did a lot of reflection on who we are and how we see ourselves,” Aguilar said. “So one of the activities was making paper mache bowls and you call them your blessing bowls so you can write good affirmation things that happened during the day [and] during the week and you put them in the blessing bowl.”
Unlike other events hosted in the Social Action Suite, the women’s retreat is meant purely for taking a moment for oneself.
“One of my students, she likes to go on this retreat, specifically, because it gives her a chance after midterms to just take a pause and I think that’s something that everybody’s mental health needs,” Aguilar said.
Litzy Ivon Rincon Robles, a senior psychology student at MC, went on the retreat as a student leader.
Ivon Rincon Robles explained how this retreat can be helpful to students not just for their mental health, but also for finding new friends and leaders to guide them.
“To have someone by your side as an upperclassman, especially since college for newer students is difficult the first year, having someone that you can relate to can be a big advantage,” Ivon Rincon Robles said.
For Ivon Rincon Robles, this year as a student leader was special in particular as she was able to go with women she has grown to know.
“This year what made it special is that I knew a bunch of the participants, so I got closer to them and was able to have fun with them in a stress-free non-school related environment,” Ivon Rincon Robles said.
Aaliyah Dyer, a sophomore biology student at MC, also went as a student leader on the retreat. However, unlike the other leaders, this was her first time attending a retreat.
“Being around a full group of women and not having to worry about the pressures of college and the pressures of performing in class and companionship, I really felt like I knew all those girls for a whole year, and it was my first time meeting 90% of them, but it was just such an amazing moment,” Dyer said.
In the future, Dyer would enhance her leadership skills by bringing women together more often.
“We all at some points would talk to each other but I felt like there were some moments where we would kind of go off into what we thought was comfortable,” Dyer said. “So I would make sure that everybody’s mixing up their conversation just so that you get to really talk to other people that you may not have talked to on the campus.”
The Manhattan College Campus Ministry and Social Active Suite offers multiple retreats each year for MC students to foster their growth and mental health in a safe, group environment. The annual Women’s Retreat is an opportunity for any Manhattan College student who identifies as female to take advantage of by joining or becoming a leader.
Dyer told The Quadrangle what she hopes students take away from the retreat.
“A stronger sense in yourself, a lot of the activities that we did, they were kind of reflecting and just thinking about elements in your life or things that you could work on or something that you’re proud of in that moment,” Dyer said.