Culver Academies is holding a series of retreats this year to bring together diverse student population

Tom Coyne

Oct 24 2025

Culver Academies students at Who Are We? Retreat. (Photo by Kevin Shao '27)

Culver Academies is holding a series of retreats aimed at bringing students from different racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds together to get to know each other better with the goal of promoting a campus environment that is accepting, understanding and welcoming to all students.

The school is holding three “Who Are We? Retreats” at its Beason Park property near Winamac, Indiana, to help students get away from campus, stow their telephones for the weekend and hang out with some students they might not typically cross paths with so they can openly discuss their similarities and differences, and learn to appreciate both while also finding common ground.

“We are in a bubble here at Culver so we want to ensure that our bubble is as inclusive as possible and that we’re equipping students the tools and skills for understanding and respect for diversity,” said Lau Ortiz Mercado, Ph.D., an academic and college advisor.

Culver has students from two dozen countries, more than 40 states who compete on 65 athletic teams and take part in numerous other extracurricular activities, and some students tend to hang out with other students with similar backgrounds, whether that is ethnic, racial, cultural, spiritual, athletic or by dorm or barrack.

“We usually default to hanging out with people like us. Especially being somebody from Puerto Rico, I know being around Hispanics and Latinos is important to feel a little bit of a connection with back home,” Ortiz said. “I’m going to assume that we have a lot of Chinese students hanging out together, a lot of Mexicans hanging out together. But there’s other ways to find that sense of connections beyond simply ethnicity and racial background.”

More than two dozen students, many of them members of the Academies’ Diversity Councils, took part in the first of three WAW Retreats in September. They arrived at Beason Park on Saturday evening, enjoyed an evening bonfire and then spent most of Sunday playing games aimed at showing them the value of looking at issues from many angles.

“We present them activities, but we don’t really lead them to specific conclusions,” Ortiz said. “We let them take charge and just enjoy being together and talk to each other. Because our goal is to have them to be able to interact with each other and take leadership of their own culture on campus.”

Ortiz and Evan Armacost, an instructor of Latin and ancient Mediterranean cultures, two of the retreat organizers, said they were pleased to see how engaged students were.

“From the moment the kids got off the bus, I knew we were going to have a good weekend. Everybody seemed excited and happy to be there and they were gracious with our logistical hiccups as adults,” Armacost said. “They really met the moment.”

Culver Academies students engage in game that explores how cultural differences impact their behaviors and attitudes toward others (Photo by Tom Coyne)

On Sunday, after breakfast, the students started by playing a game where they divided into two groups and explored how cultural differences impact their behaviors and attitudes toward others. Students were forced to look at situations from a different perspective and see how their views influence their perceptions and interactions with others.

They then divided into smaller groups and played a rotation of games again aimed at making them look at things from different perspectives. In “Blocked Perspectives” the students were divided into photographers and architects on one side and builders on the other. The students then had to work together to build the structure in the photo by piecing together different perspectives to try to get the whole picture.

They also played “Take a Stand” where they discussed various ethical situations and had to explain where they stood on a question involving diversity.

Students said they enjoyed the games.

“It was actually more fun than I initially expected. I was laughing for a while. It was pretty enjoyable,” said Joey Jorgenson ’27, a Diversity Council member.

Jeremiah Walton ’26 said he volunteered to go on the trip because he plans to major in international relations in college, so he’s always eager to see perspectives that differ from his.

“Because when we think about our communities, we always think of things that are tied to our ethnicity, race or nationality. However, we’re all part of one big community, which is humanity, in my opinion. So because I’m interested in trying to bring the world toward peace, the WAW retreat was interesting because that’s what I’m into.”

Daryn Jordan ’28, who was invited by a Diversity Council member, said she’s glad she went.

“It encourages students to interact with people you probably wouldn’t normally hang out with or talk to,” Jordan said.

Jordan said she believes she left the retreat with a more open mind.

“I think it helped me see things from different perspectives,” Jordan said. It helped me to understand things better and not to go into things with a pre-conceived idea and to see things differently.”

Anjali Gaba ’27, a Diversity Council member, said she thinks Culver does better than most schools when it comes to inclusivity.

“But we still have a lot to work on. So I think the retreat was a step in the right direction,” she said.

Armacost said he hopes the retreats encourage students to get to know other students with different backgrounds.

“Since so many people come from all over the world to Culver, I think we'd be doing our students and even ourselves as adults a disservice if we only stayed in our own comfort zone on any area,” he said. “If the retreat was successful, the kids would leave more connected to each other and more connected to a greater cross section of each other. I guess the retreat would be successful if kids on the bus home we're talking to different people on the way home than on the way there. Hopefully kids expand their horizons a little bit.”