Annual Family Retreat • Theme evolves each year

Intentional families. Exceptional children.

An application-only annual retreat for entrepreneurial families who want their children surrounded by excellence, connection, and responsible AI fluency.

Each year has a different theme. The larger mission stays constant: help ambitious families grow closer, expose children to world-class thinking, and give the next generation a room where capability, character, and creativity are normal.

Apply for an Interview →Explore the Program

Connection • Character • AI Fluency • Excellence • Adventure • Family Culture • Leadership • Legacy • Connection • Character • AI Fluency • Excellence • Adventure • Family Culture • Leadership • Legacy •

The core promise

A private room for families who are building meaningful lives — and want their children shaped by the same standard.

The Family Retreat is for parents who know that what surrounds a child matters: the adults they watch, the peers they meet, the tools they learn to use, the questions they hear, and the memories that become family identity.

MissionEquip families to raise capable, connected, thoughtful children who can lead in a world changing faster than traditional education can adapt.

FormatAnnual retreat. Different theme each year. Same commitment to family excellence.

Program model

Not a conference. Not a camp. A family operating system in motion.

The retreat is designed to progress in the right order: first the room, then the family connection, then the annual theme, then the challenge, then the carry-home commitment.

1. Curated families first

The power is the room. Entrepreneurial parents. Children being raised around high standards. Families who want peers that reinforce what they are building at home.

Room

2. Connection before performance

The retreat starts with family connection because children grow best when challenge is paired with belonging.

Trust

3. Annual theme

Each year introduces a timely growth lens — innovation, leadership, service, health, stewardship, adventure, or legacy.

Theme

4. Shared challenge

Families learn by doing: conversation, collaboration, adventure, reflection, responsible technology, and guided practice.

Practice

5. Carry-home action

The weekend ends with a commitment families can continue: a ritual, project, family meeting rhythm, creative challenge, or next bold step.

After

Children do not become excellent by being told to aim high. They become excellent by entering rooms where excellence is normal.

The Family Retreat creates that room: warm enough for children to feel safe, serious enough for families to grow, and current enough to prepare them for the world they are actually inheriting.

Facilitators

Guided by hosts and leaders committed to stronger families.

The leadership combines entrepreneurial experience, family-culture depth, and responsible AI integration. Every facilitator supports the same outcome: families leave more connected, capable, and clear.

Host • Entrepreneur

Barrett Ersek

Founder and CEO of Holganix, EO/MIT Entrepreneurial Masters Program graduate, and EO/YPO speaker hosting a room for family, growth, and excellence.

Host • Family Culture

Kristina Ersek

Committed to creating a warm, intentional environment where families connect deeply, children feel seen, and the next generation is encouraged toward excellence.

18 Summers

Jim Sheils

Co-founder of 18 Summers, best-selling author of The Family Board Meeting, and speaker/consultant helping leaders succeed at home.

18 Summers

Jamie Sheils

Co-founder of 18 Summers, educator, founder of a Waldorf-inspired public charter school, and former Montessori charter school director.

Responsible AI in every event

AI is not a side topic. It is part of modern family leadership.

While much of the educational world tries to suppress, avoid, or slow-walk world-changing technology, The Family Retreat teaches families — including children — to use AI responsibly, intelligently, creatively, and with discernment.

AI Integration Lead

Joshua Pellicer

Founder of AIify and The World AI Summit, leading the retreat’s practical, responsible, family-safe AI fluency for parents and children.

Responsible use

Children learn that AI is powerful, useful, and not magic. They practice asking better questions, checking outputs, and keeping judgment in the loop.

Intelligent creation

Families use AI to explore ideas, organize thinking, research safely, prototype concepts, and turn inspiration into visible work.

Parent-led guardrails

AI is introduced inside a family-values container: consent, safety, discernment, privacy, approval, and age-appropriate boundaries.

Why it matters now

The world changed. Children need better preparation than avoidance.

The retreat gives families a way to engage the future without outsourcing values to schools, platforms, or algorithms.

Know who you are as a family

Connection and identity come before tools. AI should serve the family, not replace the family.

Learn the technology with judgment

Parents and children practice responsible use together: curiosity, verification, privacy, safety, and creative application.

Apply the annual theme

Every year’s theme becomes an embodied experience, not a slogan — something families discuss, practice, and carry home.

Return to the right peer group

The compounding value is community: families who normalize excellence, intentional parenting, and future-ready thinking.

Application-only

Apply for an interview.

The Family Retreat is for families who are serious about connection, excellence, responsible AI fluency, and raising children around the right examples. If that sounds like your family, the next step is a short interview.