by Brice Nixon
Editorial Director
The class of 2000 at the University of La Verne has not had its Senior Retreat, an event that usually takes place in the last week of March or the first weeks of April, and it looks as though there will not be one this year.
If that happens, it will be the second consecutive year the graduating class will not have the event, a senior tradition at ULV, at least partially because of diminished participation.
“We have experienced in the last few years that there has been a lack of involvement,” said Ruby Montaño-Cordova, assistant dean of student affairs. The senior retreat program falls under Montaño-Cordova’s leadership, although she is not directly in charge of it.
Senior Araceli Esparza started a petition on April 26 to show that there is interest. She said she has approximately 35 signatures and will meet with Montaño-Cordova on Monday.
“Initially, I heard about the cancellation of the retreat two months ago,” said Esparza, “and I wasn’t sure people were really bothered by it as much as I was. But as the semester progressed, and I talked to more seniors, and they were upset. They felt some of our traditions had already been taken away, and this was just another one.
“So I decided the only way we were going to have a retreat was if we proved people would show up.”
Montaño-Cordova said she will decide after the meeting what action, if any, to take.
One of the concerns expressed by many seniors is the desire to read their goal letters.
During freshman orientation, students write a letter to themselves detailing their “hopes and dreams,” Montaño-Cordova said. The letters are opened at the senior retreat.
“What it represents and says to them is how they’ve changed during that time,” said Montaño-Cordova.
The letters for this year are saved, she said. They were going to be sent out to students with a memo, but Montaño-Cordova said they are holding off on that due to the petition.
“Last year we were at a position where we had less than 10 students,” said Montaño-Cordova. “In the end we didn’t have what would officially be called a senior retreat.”
It was cancelled last year because there was not enough interest to justify the cost, Montaño-Cordova said. An on-campus, half-day retreat was planned, but there was little response.
In October, there were discussions on where to go with the senior retreat and the transitions program, which provided support to students to help them transition through experiences.
Based on previous years’ experience, the decision was made that the senior retreat would at least have a different look and that it was just one of the ideas for a senior program.
“The vision was wider this year than it had been in years past … that we were going to open the doors of possibility,” said Montaño-Cordova.
The senior program was the responsibility of the leadership, development and transition programs director, a new position held by Lura Poggi, who left the University in December.
After Montaño-Cordova lost Poggi, a member of her staff, she decided the L.E.A.D. and University 100 programs took priority.
Julie Hurst assumed leadership of the L.E.A.D program and the transitions program was put on hold while Montaño-Cordova searched for a new leadership, development and transition programs director.
