Sixth-grader Cheyenne Thompson stood in front of a circle made up of her classmates from Pawnee Elementary School and pledged to make a positive change in her life.
“My act of courage is to be who I truly am and to help others,” Cheyenne said, as she dropped a pebble into a bowl of water in the center of the room.
Cheyenne was one of 84 students, primarily sixth-graders, from Pawnee to participate in an all-day “courage retreat” on March 31. She and her classmates spent the day learning about courage and how to make a difference in her life, while being mentored by 25 high school volunteers from Bryan and Omaha North.
The retreat was put on by Youth Frontiers, a nonprofit character education organization based out of Minneapolis. The group, founded in 1987, challenges students to stand up and make their schools and communities a better place.
Sam Soule, one of the three facilitators orchestrating the retreat, said the event’s intent was to encourage children to treat each other with respect. He spoke on fear and having everyday courage.
“Our goal is to have everyone commit to one act of courage,” he said. “Things like standing up for kids, reaching out of their comfort zone.”
Besides Cheyenne’s act or courage, other pledges by students included “to be myself and stop being someone I’m not,” “to stick up for myself,” “to make a change because I just want to be myself,” “to be nicer to people” and “to stand up for other people.”
Soule said Youth Frontiers conducts about 635 retreats across the county, with most being held in the Midwest. He said the nonprofit has about 40 employees, including 20 who travel to run events.
Youth Frontiers offers four retreats: a kindness retreat (grades 4-5), a courage retreat (grades 6-8), a respect retreat (grades 9-10) and a wisdom retreat (grade 12). The organization also offers programs for educators and parents.
Counselor Patricia Rasmussen, who organized the retreat, said she was familiar with Youth Frontiers because of work they do for other local schools, including Omaha Public Schools buildings such as Monroe Middle School. The group recently held retreats in Council Bluffs as well as at St. Pius X/St. Leo and Our Lady of Lourdes schools in Omaha.
The retreat was funded by the district’s safe and drug free schools program, including Youth Frontiers’ program fee of about $2,500, according to the group’s website. The Kiwanis Club of Sarpy County helped by purchasing pizza for the roughly 100 people participating in the event.
“I would love to do it again next year,” Rasmussen said. “We just would have to come up with funding.”
The retreat was held a few blocks away from Pawnee at the Assembly of God South Side Church, 4815 Harrison St., which allowed the school to use its auditorium space for free.
Rasmussen said the building also serves as Pawnee’s emergency evacuation site, so students were already familiar with it after visiting during a preparedness drill.
“By talking them to another facility, it makes it seem like a more special event,” Rasmussen said. “I wanted it to feel like a retreat.”
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