Every Wednesday after school, several teenagers from Lake Central carpool to get to Young Life. Young Life is a youth group that comes together, has fun activities and talks about the morals of life while giving teenagers a safe place to be. While the group has many students that come from Lake Central, the group is open to any teen from any school.
“I got into Young Life because a friend brought me to it. I go to have a sense of belonging and to meet new people and grow closer in my faith. Every Wednesday, we hand out with friends at Cafe Fresco then go to a leader’s house and hang out until we go through a message, which is sometimes a bible verse, but not always,” McKenzie Duncan (11), said.
The close-knit group has helped teenagers to feel comfortable around their peers and have fun while doing so. Young Life makes everyone feel like they were the missing person in their big family.
“Seeing new people come into Young Life and experience all of us together is amazing in my eyes because it’s always a different expression. Some people are excited or happy, some people look at us like we are complete weirdos. We honestly just wanna show everyone the love we have,” Keri Ferry (11), said.
Young Life has influenced many students through the deep discussions that they have. It has helped them to mature and understand the morals of life. Being apart of this group has also led students to want to become leaders from growing and learning so much about themselves spiritually.
“ [Young Life] has helped me mature over the years by teaching me important lessons and helping me appreciate and understand even the little things in life,” Jack Scanlon (12) says.
Young Life is continuing to grow with teenagers that are looking for a safe and welcoming place to be themselves. It hopes to make an impact on teens around the region.
“More people should come because it’s [Young Life] a place where you can be yourself and where most people will accept you for who you are. It can also help people who are going through a rough time by giving them a community that they can come to and talk through their problems. As long as everyone is accepting of other people and make people feel comfortable, it [Young Life] should continue to grow and create a bigger community for everyone to indulge in,”Josiah Kuypers (11) said.
