Faculty & Staff Retreat and Team Building: Opening Meetings 2026
Faculty & Staff Retreat and Team Building: Opening Meetings 2026
The time our faculty and staff spend together before students return to campus can often simultaneously feel relaxing, invigorating, strategic, creative, and cathartic all at once. At Holy Child, we aim to make the final week of break a restorative experience for faculty and staff — through both faith based programming and team building exercises — while also leaving plenty of time to prep schedules and classrooms before students arrive.
This past August during Opening Meetings, faculty and staff attended a retreat at New Sharon, located on the grounds of the American Province of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. During this time, we celebrated Mass with the Sisters, led by Fr. David Cregan, and participated in individual and group meditation to set our intentions for the upcoming school year.
Much of our discussion on this day was centered on a reflection by John Kirwin called "Silent Hope," which frames life as a “messy affair” despite our best efforts. We were called to recognize that our journey as Holy Child educators is about “finding God and serving others,” even in the midst of that mess, and honoring the sacred responsibility of nurturing this mission in our students no matter what the day may bring.
Later that same week, faculty and staff had the incredible opportunity to participate in a “Life Cycles” team building exercise, facilitated by Odyssey Teams, which was intentionally designed to reconnect people to the impact they have on one another, and on the communities they serve. The experience allowed us to strengthen our collaboration, accountability, empathy, and shared purpose through discussion and activity, while also serving as a way to give back to our community. At the culmination of our time together, Holy Child employees teamed up to build a fleet of children’s bikes — not knowing that the recipients, students from nearby St. Rose of Lima School, would be walking through the doors to joyfully accept the bikes at the end of the afternoon!
We are tremendously grateful for these opportunities to connect, learn, share, serve and grow as a school community, and for a leadership team who prioritizes the development and well-being of its staff members. Our Foundress Cornelia Connelly once said, “Oh how can we ever be grateful enough for His making use of us!” — and it is with both pleasure and pride that we are made useful here at Holy Child.