Can you think how many hours you spend on social media a day? Or maybe could you think of what makes social media so intriguing it sucks us into a rabbit hole? Well for our Year 11 students, the theme of their retreat on Wednesday; #SelfieCheck focused on how social media affects our lives to influence our self-worth and image. And the theme encouraged us all to come together and recognise the need to make change for others within our communities.
Held at the Korean Catholic Church, the Year 11 retreat gave students the opportunity to come together and recognise the virtual world in which we are living, while also allowing students the opportunity to take time out to stop and reflect.
To start the day the students were assigned into small groups and given scenarios which required them to stop and really think about the time consumption of their social platforms; questions such as “how many hours a day do you spend on social media?” Or, “do you think social media connects people together?” were a real an eye opener for our students.
A Year 11 said, “I thought they were good topics to reflect on, because they were very relatable and issues that society suffers from.”
Another Activity was to make our own social media challenge related to social issues. One group created the #YouWon’tChallenge which explains about Peer Pressure. It was fun to see everyone contributing in their groups, and really laughing a lot.
After the activity it was time for morning tea and the students enjoyed socialising and playing sports in the warm sun. At lunch everyone gathered in their homerooms and shared pizza with one another. Everyone was able to relax as they had fun getting away from all the school work. Later we walked back to school and had one more activity to do. We were to lie down in the chapel and just clear our minds as we thought about ourselves. We were to present our reflection by either drawing or writing. We then ended the day with smiles on our faces having been given a lesson about society interacting with Social Media.
On behalf of the Year 11s of Sancta Maria College, we would like to thank our teachers, especially Mr Piggin, for organising this wonderful event, and the LOGOS Youth Group who led the retreat. This retreat was a wonderful experience. #LoveYourself
Francesca Adams and Lorenzo Cruz
