A couple weeks ago, several members of our CONNECT College Ministry went to Goodland Academy in Hugo, OK, where they had a spring retreat and service project. Goodland Academy is a boys’ home that functions like a boarding school, housing school-age boys and teaching them from whatever grade level they are on through high school graduation. These are boys who either have poor home lives or have struggled to succeed in a traditional school setting, and at Goodland they learn about all of the usual subjects like math, history, science, and english, but they also learn life skills such as how to manage a budget, buy groceries, drive and maintain a car, and other things.
A unique thing about Goodland is that they don’t have a regular maintenance staff, so instead they bring in groups like ours to help work on projects and upgrade the campus. We’ve been there three years in a row, and this year we cleaned up a newly renovated cottage that will soon house eight boys, enabling Goodland to grow the number of students they can care for. Our students worked hard and even got more work done than our hosts thought we would. It’s awesome to see folks working together to get a lot done, and it’s even cooler when they realize the power of working as a team and how much they can get accomplished together.
In addition to the work we did, the trip was also a bit of a retreat — a chance to get away from busy lives filled with work and school, and to focus on spending time with God and with spiritual friends. A few times throughout the weekend, we paused to reflect on this, to share thoughts about what we learned by being there, and to spend time with God. There were a handful of students and several other friends of the College Ministry, and it was great to see everyone getting to know one another a little better, offering words of encouragement and kindness, and growing as individuals and as a group. Ask a student about their trip to Hugo!
