Loyola University Chicago

Achieving College Excellence

Student Academic Services

Annual Continue to Dream Retreat

The annual and empowering Continue to Dream Retreat is a main staple of the fall semester and typically takes place in mid-October at LUREC (Loyola University Retreat and Ecology Campus) in Woodstock, Illinois.

Organized and hosted by students in ACE, The Continue to Dream Retreat is an opportunity for program participants to make connections with one another and to reflect on their experiences pre-Loyola, while at Loyola, and any post-Loyola ideas, concerns, and questions for which they need discernment. The retreat encourages students to engage in critical self-reflection on their identity as first-generation, lower-income, having a registered disability, or some combination of these demographics, and to engage in goal-setting for the upcoming year.

There will be outdoor activities such as high ropes, low ropes, and an action course, but every obstacle taken is solely up to each individual. We encourage students to know their limits, but to challenge themselves.  The Continue to Dream Retreat is created as a safe space for all ACE Scholars to find a new power within themselves and to connect with others through experiences and personal testimonies.

When staffing and budget funds allow, a follow-up retreat called L.E.A.D. (Leadership-Exploration-Action-Development) takes place during the spring semester.  The same team of student leaders from the fall semester retreat develop a curriculum focused on attributes students possess and can utilize to become leaders in their own right and contribute to the department in a community building focused manner.


Retreat 2018