The AW11 retreat is an annual event that takes place at the beginning of each school year at Wyoming High School.

The retreat offers numerous benefits for everyone who attends. Mr. Doyle first conceived the retreat about 8 years ago, as an extension of our Alpha Wolf Champion of Character leadership program. He thought having a retreat to kick off the new school year would benefit the school; kids would come up with ideas, initiatives, and a theme that students could adopt and positively impact the school, such as peer mentoring or reading to elementary students. Much of the activity at the retreat, though also has to do with planning the celebrations to honor students and staff for being kind, compassionate, and gracious twice a year as part of our AW11 program.

The process of selecting who will go on the retreat is a bit hard for Mr. Doyle. Students turn in an application, then he needs to determine who really has the drive to attend. After reading the applications, he checks grades and attendance. If a student’s attendance rate is not 85% percent or higher, they are automatically rejected. Mr. Doyle breaks down the quantity of students by grades as well: he always takes 11 freshman, 22 sophomores, about 38 juniors and the rest seniors.

Those who were selected enjoyed their time at at Camp Manitou-Lin. Students went camping on Barlow Lake, made posters, learned about leadership, and even went canoeing on the lake.

The whole theme for the retreat is to “leave a legacy behind. The main focus of the program and the retreat never varies, though. “We always want you to feel kind, we always want you to be kind, we always want you to be compassionate,” said Doyle, “and we want you to have grace with one another.”