“If you thought this was going to be a daylong lecture about being nice, this isn’t it,” said Todd Maas of Youth Frontiers, moments after the entire fourth, fifth and sixth grades of St. Michael Catholic School had filled the gym with a “train” dance that would have made “Soul Train” proud.

“We’re going to get up, move around, dance and maybe even do a little singing,” Maas said.

“No one wants to hear me do that,” said one of the teachers over the crowd.

The first-ever Kindness Retreat at St. Michael Catholic School quickly became an anticipated event for the buildings 9, 10, 11 and even 12-year-olds. It’s also turned out to be a great day for the parents and St. Michael-Albertville High School students who choose to volunteer as group leaders, an important aspect of the day, said Youth Frontiers’ Bjork Ostrom.

“You guys are going to be the captains of our ship throughout the day,” he said.

“This isn’t just a day out of school for these teachers, adults and kids,” Maas added. “They’re here because they care about you and they care about your school.”

Youth Frontiers is a Twin Cities-based company that specializes in retreats for kids from private and public schools. They’re conducted in-building, mostly in gymnasiums or common areas. They’re energetic, use big group and small-group activities and create smiles from the opening introductory exercises to the final farewells.

“We hope that it’s something kids enjoy for the day, and then take out of the gym and into the halls and into their classroom,” said Jennifer Haller, principal at St. Michael Catholic School.

Youth Frontiers does a different production for various levels. At the elementary level, it’s a message of kindness. Get to middle school, and it’s lessons on courage (the courage to be yourself, to get involved, etc.). At the high school level, that activities center around a message of respect.

To date, the group has worked with nearly 1,000,000 students around the country, primarily in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to have them in our school,” Haller said.

Sure enough, Haller was there Thursday morning for the retreat, hopping in line with the train game, swabbing the deck during the boat game, and patting her legs as the two men from YF led the crowd through another activity.

“For some people, kindness comes easy,” Maas said. “For others, not so much. But we can all be kind to each other in our own way. This is all about the idea of kindness in our lives.”

The retreat also comes four days before the school celebrates Catholic Schools Week, which will kick off Sunday with an open house at St. Michael Catholic School. Visit StMichael.Patch.com for more information on all the activities surrounding the national celebration of Catholic schools. 

*Note: This story was updated to correct Bjork Ostrom's last name and the number of students reached (1 million, not 100,000) by Youth Frontiers. Patch is committed to fair and accurate reporting and regrets these errors. If you spot an error on St. Michael Patch, please e-mail editor Mike Schoemer at mike.schoemer@patch.com and a correction will be made immediately.