When it came to testing how well The Koinonia Project would do as far as building community among students we turned to a few people who could give critical feedback of our solution. One of people we turned to was an old high school teacher of mine, Mr. Sean Joseph. Mr. Joseph was actually one of the large reasons we had decided to abandon our idea of a communication app since he poked a lot of holes in our logic. When he was presented with The Koinonia Project he was much more interested in its specific details. After learning how each trip would progressively become more and more interpersonal between the students he said it was a very interesting concept to try and build genuine relationships between students to fix High School issues. Getting this insight from someone who works within the industry was something we did not take for granted so we began to pivot into focusing on a community building project.

Originally when The Koinonia Project was in its prototype phase we had imagined outdoor activities but that quickly built into a getaway trip. Being disconnected from the rest of the world is a factor we especially wanted highlighted through this process. The students have to feel a level of intimacy while attending the event. This level of intimacy also discourages students from revealing any information they may hear, which is essential.

The real community building aspect of the trip comes from the vulnerability that students will have to display amongst their peers. From the feedback we received this was the most popular aspect of the retreat. It forms a connection between students that is not easily broken and leaves lifelong lasting impressions on the students involved. Students will be given the opportunity to open up about their interpersonal struggles that they may rarely reflect upon. The intention behind this is to show the students a glimpse of how their peers really feel about certain aspects of their lives. It is a human experience above everything else, something a lot of students today lack exposure to. 

By reflecting upon their time in high school together students can gather clarity and emotional strength through conversations they would usually not feel comfortable getting into. 

Through talking with our own peers we learned that they as well were very interested in the spiritual aspect of our service. It is the factor that separated the Koinonia idea from our others. We found Koinonia when looking for a Greek term to encapsulate what our main goals were. Koinonia means community, communion, joint participation, sharing, and intimacy. These are the key aspects that our peers along with others that have looked over ideas have seemed to connect with the most. Koinonia encompasses exactly what High Schoolers need while in this stressful moment of their lives.

Transitioning from middle school to high school we found that physical team games were the most appealing option. When showing some peers our mind map they told us how games would be a great fit for the younger groups, more specifically freshman. When we asked them about seniors the favorite choices were ideas regarding life skills. This is how we knew that Koinonia would be the perfect match for what people want since we can highlight both sides of the best feedback we received. 

We also got some great feedback from my (Mitch Carestio) old High School teacher. I presented him with a very rough pitch about having freshman and senior students go on a getaway trip to build community within the school. His initial reaction was surprise that we were tackling a topic regarding community, he said how it was a very overlooked aspect of our current schooling system and felt it could help lead schools down a much more close knit path. Having students work on their comfortability around their peers is something that must be stressed since communication is key for so many different aspects of life. 

Some problems we had to work through were deciding exactly how we are going to keep everything confidential. Public schools can have a little more difficulty with a contract signing or giving repercussions based on if students talked about things that were said in their small groups, we decided to make it more within the school and a school rule that would be implemented when accepting the Koinonia project. We also had to work through how we would solve the traditional Senior retreat system. This is because we had to find a way to implement it in the beginning of their high school career because by the time the Senior retreat rolls around it would almost be time for them to graduate. This is why we added the Freshman retreat. Lastly, we had to work around the problem of deciding when to have the emotional experience for the students. We could not have the impactful retreat in the beginning of their freshman year because we discovered that it would be likely that students will not be mature enough to do the emotional retreat as freshman. With the testing process we learned a lot about resilience and how working through issues and creating more ideas is extremely important for crafting a great product that truly solves the issue.

 

To really give the students a feeling of vulnerability they will be randomly placed into smaller groups of 6-8. Since the students will have no control in their placement they are already placed at a disadvantage from a control standpoint. The students need to feel as though they are walking through motions that have already been planned for them so they can really open up to their peers. Environment is everything in this process. Based on the feedback we’ve received from our peers we feel that this is necessary to create a spiritual experience, which is the most highlighted portion of our idea. 

One of the recurring questions asked was how exactly will we get these students to confide in one another. That is why the trip is designed to have multiple days where the initial night can consist of funny stories and trust being built. This trust will flourish into a relationship comfortable enough to have the opportunity to open up about the things that really bother our participants. The things they do not want to discuss but most to truly overcome the weights holding them back. The teachers themselves as well will invoke emotions out of the students by showing a more vulnerable side which has never been displayed before and by giving their genuine goodbyes to the students they’ve grown close to in the previous four years.

The staff will basically be inviting the students to open up since the teachers themselves had opened up to the students. It is an emotional invitation to become transparent and really confide within your peers.

 

High School Student Input:

 

Gabe: "What do you like most about this prototype?"

Student: "I really like how the two retreats are different and how they both combine into one

goal, because I agree if you tried to do the senior retreat for freshmen it could

start more drama and I dont think kids would get the same meaning from if they

did it as a senior. I really wish my school did this".

Gabe: "Tell me more about that."

Student: "I just think that when I was a freshman it took me a long time to build real

friendships in school because there wasn’t that much time to really talk with

people other than lunch or study hall and I kind of stayed in my small group of

friends and didn’t get to know other people until much later. I think the freshman

retreat would really help with building friendships fast and memories together. It

will make more acquaintances too and more people to say hello to in the hallway

because you have already had some kind of interaction with them even though

they may not become your best friend".

Gabe: "How could this idea be more engaging or exciting?"

Student:"Maybe you could include a mini smaller one in sophomore and senior year that happens

on a given day in school or maybe even engraved in the school system. I heard of one

of my friends who has a house system where you are put into one of 6 houses and you

do activities together and you just spend 20-30 minutes a day with each other, this could

help with meeting more people from different grade levels but also will give a sense of

belonging to students and a small break to socialize between classes. This could also

really help set up the senior retreat".

Gabe: "How would it help set up the senior retreat?”

Student: "Because you will already be used to being in small groups and doing activities together.

And it will help you broaden your perspective by talking with people who are different

than you or come from different backgrounds".

Gabe: "What features would make this prototype truly remarkable, even if they seem

far-fetched right now?"

Student: "The idea of building emotion in the senior retreat is really cool to me. I think this really

will be effective because it's almost like the bonding you get from going through a tough

time with someone, you will all share that experience and that alone will really help with

the idea of building community".

 

High School Parent Input

Gabe: "What do you like most about this prototype?"

Parent: "I really like how this is aimed to give kids a sense of belonging, I think so many kids

nowadays have depression and mental health issues that maybe come from feeling alone

or not loved and I think this will help kids with that".

Gabe: "How could this idea be more engaging or exciting?"

Parent: "I know you mentioned originally that you wanted to also increase the connection between

students and parents and also parents and teachers, maybe you could find a way to

incorporate this more into your retreats. Since this seems more like bonding between

students".

Gabe: "Tell me more about that."

Parent: "I like how you have the letters from parents, teachers, etc. but maybe you could also

include an activity outside of the kairos retreats that can make a community where

parents can meet other parents, and the parents can meet the teachers and not in a

setting like a teacher conference".

Gabe: "What features would make this prototype truly remarkable, even if they seem

far-fetched right now?"

Parent: "I am a big advocate for being outdoors and spending time doing physical activities. I

workout all the time and I go on hikes quite often so I really like how the freshman retreat

includes this. This will help students maybe develop hobbies or get non athletic people a

little more active."