The Brave Plunge was an optional, intensive overnight experience for Bishop Blanchet sophomores, meant to inspire deeper compassion for the poor and underprivileged.

The Plunge Retreat was not the typical BBHS retreat experience. Its hope was to give its participants an experience that would promote in them a deeper awareness and compassion for the daily struggles of someone who is living homeless. The retreats participants were faced with many challenges throughout the retreat.

The challenges they endured included discomforts and injustices that people who are homeless endure on a daily basis. It was the hope of the retreat’s leaders that the participants would face each challenge with an open mind and heart as they “plunged” in.

“I took away the morals of being respectful to homeless people,” said retreat participant, sophomore Matty Campbell, “and I now appreciate all the hard work homeless services do. Me and the other sophomores who attended the retreat will now have a better understanding of what it means to be homeless and how everyone can help out to fix this problem our city has. This retreat meant a lot to me because it showed me how fortunate I am to be living the way I am and I think everyone would be able to appreciate their life a lot more if they understood what it would be like to not be as fortunate as they are.”

All sophomores were invited to attend the Brave Plunge. The Brave Plunge was an overnight retreat, put on every year by the school, that took place this past Thursday & Friday November 12 & 13.

The retreat began after school on Thursday and included an overnight portion. In a safe environment, the retreat simulated some of the struggles that people who are homeless face every day. The retreat gave those who participated a deeper awareness and compassion for people who are homeless.

It was imperative to the morals of the retreat that the participants were willing to embrace the subject matter and the challenges they experienced. The retreat had limited space as means to properly maintain the experience of a homeless lifestyle.

“I think [the sophomores] will definitely remember their service experience because they directly served the homeless,” said the retreat’s head leader, Mrs. Ann Monica. “I also think that [the sophomores] have a better understanding of why people become homeless, and they have a better understanding of the difference between compassion and pity.”