50 years later, Henry Strobel Retreat continues to build lifelong bonds
Every year, before the first lab or lecture begins, the Henry W. Strobel Retreat brings a new class of medical students together to do something just as important: become a community.
On July 31, that tradition reached a milestone as the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston Class of 2030 joined faculty, staff, and student leaders for the 50th Henry W. Strobel Retreat. Through team competitions, outdoor adventures, mentorship, and shared experiences, incoming students began building the relationships that will sustain them throughout medical school, and often long after graduation.
Fifty years after its founding, the retreat continues to reflect the values that inspired Henry W. Strobel, MD: collaboration, connection, and community.
Building a community
For the Class of 2030, the retreat transformed a week of unfamiliar faces into the beginnings of lifelong friendships.
“I went to The University of Texas at Austin, so as you can tell, I didn’t know everyone there,” said Athvait Manikantan. “But here, it’s 240 people, and retreat has made me go out and meet people that I never expected to have a connection with.”
Whether competing with classmates or floating in Lake Livingston, Manikantan said the shared experiences created friendships much faster than he expected.
“I went tubing with a few people, and it was a bonding experience,” he said. “Some people talk about trauma bonding, but I think this is the converse to that. It’s definitely a really enjoyable experience where you get to start off medical school with a bang with people that you will grow and develop relationships with over the next four years.”
Hannah Simpson said the retreat helped transform familiar faces into future classmates and friends.
“Retreat has been super fun,” Simpson said. “All week we’ve been familiarized with people’s faces, but I feel like coming here put all the pieces together. We had some very friendly competition between different teams, and I got to meet so many fun people, which has made me so excited to build a camaraderie between this class and see how the relationships build throughout the year.”
A tradition across generations
Although the activities have changed over the decades, alumni say the retreat’s purpose has remained remarkably consistent. The same sense of community students experienced by the Class of 2030 is one Mark Chassay, MD, MEd, MBA, remembers from his own retreat in 1988.
“The opportunity to get to know the folks that were going to be my future classmates and future friends for the rest of my life was really big,” he said. “A lot of folks felt like medical school could be kind of cutthroat. I felt since our school had this retreat, it really leveled that down, because you got to know everybody humanistically.”
Fifty years after the inaugural retreat, the experience continues to create the same sense of belonging that has connected generations of McGovern Medical School students.
“It’s definitely cool that generations before me have had the same experience that I’m having,” Manikantan said. “I can only imagine how close the network of McGovern Medical School doctors would be just by looking at this event and seeing how close everyone is now. I’ve met at least 150 people here, and I can say at least 20 to 30 of them have already become friends after just a few days. That’s massive and something that McGovern Medical School has to offer students that I appreciate.”
When asked what Strobel would think if he could see the retreat today, Chassay didn’t hesitate.
“I think he would be incredibly proud that it’s lasted 50 years,” he said. “He’d be proud that it continues to bring people together and continues to be successful.
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How to support the students
As the retreat reaches the half-century mark, UTHealth Houston alumni have come together to create a special matching gift opportunity that will keep the experience affordable for incoming students through gifts to the Strobel Retreat Support Fund (external link).
Reaching the $25,000 fundraising goal unlocked this alumni-supported matching gift, doubling the impact of every contribution.
Every gift helps ensure future classes can experience the same welcoming tradition that has shaped generations of McGovern Medical School students.