MSU Spring Retreat
Join us for our annual MSU Spring Retreat to Big Bear, a weekend away from campus designed to reconnect, recharge, and spend meaningful time together as a community.
Across the weekend, we’ll have sunrise hikes through the mountains, stargazing under the Big Bear sky, late-night chai and jinn stories, bonfires, MSU Jeopardy, games, time by the lake, and moments for prayer and reflection, along with a featured Islamic speaker. Retreat has always been a chance to step away from the pace of the semester and enjoy time with fellow Muslims in a setting that makes it easy to slow down, explore nature, and build stronger connections.
This year, we’re also introducing a new feature within the retreat: MSU Summit Lab.
MSU Summit Lab is a collaborative makeathon-style session where students will work in teams to explore a central challenge related to the Muslim community and develop an idea or project in response. Unlike traditional hackathons that focus only on coding, Summit Lab is open to students from any major or background — whether your strengths are in design, storytelling, business strategy, tech research, community & policy initiatives, media, or something else entirely.
At the end of the session, teams will share what they’ve created, with cash prizes from a pool of $600+ awarded to standout projects. This retreat session will serve as the first pilot of MSU Summit Lab, which we hope to grow into a larger standalone event in the future.
Retreat Details
📍 Location: Big Bear Retreat Center
📅 Dates: March 27–29
THERE WILL BE HALAL MEAT SERVED ON SITE (NOT HAND-SLAUGHTERED).
• Spots are limited, so please RSVP below to claim your spot by MARCH 25th. Due to high demand, spots will be first come, first serve (with priority for current students).
• We will meet at the URC at 10:00 AM and plan to leave by 11:00 AM on March 27th, insha’Allah.
• Please have your general health history accessible (allergies, health concerns, immunizations, etc.). This will need to be submitted by or at the mandatory pre-retreat meeting.
• We have done our best to keep the cost as low as possible, but we understand everyone’s situation is different. If you need financial assistance, please note this in the form. Donations toward financial aid are also welcome — may Allah reward you.
• For questions or concerns, please reach out to SI&E Chair Thamra Hussain (+1 408-805-2842).