Free to Become
Best suited for yr 10-12 students
“AN AUTHENTIC AND ENGAGING RETREAT FOR CATHOLIC & CHRISTIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS.”
SESSION 1- Free to Become
-Breaking free from the limitations of our self-limiting beliefs
- The power of togetherness - ‘UBUNTU’
- Unleash the potential of social connection
- Engaging with active listening
“ People of strong character create easy times.”
The Character Project
SESSION 2- Free to Connection
- We Rise by lifting others
- How to strengthen our connections
- How to respond instead of react
- Seek first to understand, then to be understood
“It is clear to me now that what has most shaped my character is my education and understanding of mercy. I have been instructed in lessons of the heart.”
Catherine McAuley
SESSION 3- Free to Encounter
- The culture of character
- The power of perspective
- Small group Discussions & Activity
- A story of Character ( real stories of real people)
“ The places we go to seek the highest, there we will find holy ground. ”
Br. Damian Price
‘Free To Become’
Retreat Day Outline
All retreats have been expertly designed by Pete McAuliffe and Luke McKenna.
Pete McAuliffe is the Head of The Character Project. He is an edutrainer with over a decade of experience working with schools, communities, and church groups. He is passionate about helping individuals develop both their inner character and outer contribution, Pete empowers them to lead, influence, and serve with authenticity and purpose. His journey began as a college captain, sparking his commitment to inspiring students and staff to find meaning in faith and spirituality, and to lead through influence rather than power. Pete has been working with UPP since 2016, and has delivered UPP workshops to more than 90,000 students across Australia and more recently Ireland.
Luke McKenna is the Founder and Director of Unleashing Personal Potential (UPP). Previously, he was an Assistant Principal at a Catholic School in Brisbane. He taught Religious Education for years, before starting UPP. Luke holds degrees in Business and Education, a Masters of Educational Leadership, a Graduate Certificate in Religious Education and a Professional Certificate in Positive Education. He has also presented at State-wide Catholic Principals and Deputy Principals conferences.
The Character Project Retreats are delivered by our team of hand-picked, highly trained specialists from the UPP team. All of our workshops are tried and tested to be practical, engaging, positive, interactive and age appropriate. UPP workshops have had a positive impact on more than 300,000 Australian students since commencing in 2015 and are highly trusted by Teachers and Principals across Australia.
We use our learning, action, reflection process for all workshops, which ensures that all students are engaged through a variety of different modes (video, stories, activities, reflection, partner sharing, etc). For more about that, check out our guarantee.
The Character Project Retreats are authentic and inclusive of students who are at different parts of their faith journey. The aim is that after a Character Project Retreat, each student will be more open to exploring their spirituality, and that the whole cohort will be more connected.
RETREAT DESIGN AND DELIVERY
Details and Pricing
The investment for this engaging and transformative retreat is $22+GST/student (minimum investment of $1,800+GST/day), plus travel expenses (if applicable). This retreat is run by The Character Project Team at your school with a whole cohort of students. The best venue is your school hall (or similar), as we use a learning, action, reflection process throughout the day. For the greatest impact, we recommend that classroom RE teachers / Home Room teachers / Heads of House are present and involved for the whole day, as this has many benefits to the students and school moving forward.
“ Dynamic, powerful, engaging, relevant.”
“Engaged the whole group and developed a great rapport with students.””
“Effective and yet highly humorous.”
“We were extremely impressed with the presentation. The students were highly engaged and I felt that the session was a valuable one with a message that the students needed to hear. I don’t think it would hurt for the whole school to hear a similar message delivered that well every term. A great presentation. I was in agreement with all points. It was one of the most significant moments of the year. Empathy, consideration, social skills, emotional intelligence. I loved it! He was a character I could relate to.”
“Really strikes a chord with students. Presenters use the best of teaching techniques to leave a lasting, practical and positive impact on young people. Real strategies. Real world. Real life.””
“Meets students where they are at.”
“The session was brilliant. He was sensational and had the students engaged 100%.”