Getting outside the classroom on overnight retreats allows teachers and students to get to know each other in a different context. The trust and admiration that develops on retreats transfers into the classroom by helping to create a more compassionate learning environment where students can take more academic risks, both in thinking and effort or motivation. Students who have previously had very little success in school, or have experienced trauma in their lives outside of school, have the highest affective filters. These students stand to benefit the most from the assurances of a truly safe learning environment.