Final Reflection Blog

Throughout my time being involved with the San Francisco Archdiocese Youth Council and shadowing and Youth Minister, I have been challenged and tested in many ways. These challenges have shaped and refined my leadership skills. More specifically, I have never led retreats outside of St. Augustine and with people I've never met before. This made me come out of my comfort zone and learn how to communicate with different people, adults and youth. In each of the Youth Council Meetings, they would ask in what ways could the retreats be improved. I would always voice my opinion to the team. For example, I suggested that the leaders should try more to mingle with the students so that they would feel more welcomed because the retreats are for them. A lot of collaboration is put into the planning process of the Youth Council's Events. For example, in the beginning of our planning we had to come up with the retreat theme and agenda. It was difficult coming up with new ideas to try to get our messages across.

Because of the Capstone Project, I gained a lot of insight about how other parishes conduct their confirmation programs, but also the struggle it is to be a youth minister. The role of a youth minister is very important in maintaining the youth programs in churches. Socially, I learned how to get out of my comfort zone and lead in front of large groups of people and lead with people that I did not know previously. Personally, I have learned to be really grateful for youth programs at my parish because a lot churches do not have the resources and people to maintain their own. Intellectually, it has taught me a lot about my own self and leadership style.

In my small groups at the retreat, I would always have to think on my feet to try to get the students participate. This would sometimes have to use lots of creativity because a lot of my students were really shy. I would sometimes share my own experiences first so that they would feel more comfortable being open to the group. Another challenge I faced was balancing out the duties of the Youth Council and other activities I am a part of. For example, the work for the Food Fast, our last event, was conflicting with the work I have to do for the 2nd Year Confirmation Retreat I'm directing at St. Augustine the following week. I learned how to prioritize and stay calm while my schedule became too overwhelming.

Overall, this experience changed my life because I met so many friends that I plan to stay in touch with my whole life. It also helped me realize the impact I could make in the youth by leading retreats because after one retreat the students wrote me heart-felt thank you letters. I know for sure that I will continue to help the youth in any way I can.

St. Dunstan Confirmation Retreat

Today, the Youth Council and I led a Confirmation Retreat at St. Dunstan. There were 6 parishes present, totaling 100 students. We used the same structure as the past confirmation retreats. In the beginning, I encouraged my fellow youth council members to mingle with the students to make them feel welcome because this is what we do in St. Augustine Retreats. I tried to talk to as many students I could but it was hard because their were so many. We split up into small groups where I got to know my students more personally. My role in this retreat was to explain the song and theme. I connected the theme, "Journey with Faith", with confirmation. I explained the song and theme twice throughout the retreat. I explained lyrics that stuck out to me and asked the students for any that stuck out to them. They seemed to like the song towards the end  because they were singing along. I led my group on the "Examen", which is a hike for reflection. We stopped in placed and I appointed each group member to be in control of every point, such as review of the day, giving thanks, noticing our shortcoming, and prayer for the future. I was very peaceful and my group seemed to enjoy it. To end of the retreat, we prayed as a big group. It was great to be in charge of a small group to refine my skills of leadership.

Hours Logged: 8 Hours

7th Grade Retreat at St. Anne's of the Sunset

On Thursday, I led a 7th grade Retreat at St. Anne's of the Sunset with the Youth Council. The theme of the retreat was "Loving Unconditionally" and the theme song was "Unconditionally" by Katy Perry. We taught the students the different types of love and how they all relate to God. There's love between yourself, friends, family, a partner, and God. God's love, "agape", is his unconditional love. I led the ice breakers, "I Love My Neighbor" and "Musical Jukebox". Leading activities for a big group of about 50 students, helps me with my leadership skills. We did teaching on each kind of love, then were broken up into small groups of about 8 students to discuss them. With theses retreats, I've learned how to adapt to many different agendas and students quickly. Every retreat is different. I'm glad I have the opportunity to help grow their faith.





Hours logged: 8 hours

Confirmation Retreat at Holy Name of Jesus

Last Saturday, I led my very first Confirmation Retreat with my fellow Youth Council members! It was a wonderful experience. The students were from various parishes around the bay area that had too small of a confirmation group to hold their own retreats. The day started when the students entered and the leaders had the task of checking them in and mingling with them. I was one of the main people mingling with the group. I mainly wanted to get to know them, where they were from, and if they were excited for the day. Later, we introduced the song and theme for the retreat. The theme was "Journey with Faith" and the song was "Son of Man" by Phil Collins. The first testimony was on experiencing God's Love. Next, we broke off into small home groups, where we held discussions after every testimony. My group and I got really close because we discussed what we learned from each testimony and how it related to our lives. My role was to be the facilitator of the discussion and provide support for people to volunteer. Next, I led the quilt activity, which involved each student to draw a picture of what their faith means to them. Then, we quilted them together in the shape of a cross to symbolize that we are not alone in our journey with faith. The next testimony was on facing challenges and finding your faith through challenges. The last testimony was on sacrifice and transforming with your faith. Throughout the retreat, I got close with many students and talked to them about growing their faith. It was interesting to get to know them individually. I found that my passion is getting to know people and helping them grow in their own faith. Overall, it was an amazing retreat. The students not only grew in their faith, but I did as well.



Hours logged: 10 Hours

Youth Council Meeting on February 7th

On February 7th, I attended the monthly Youth Council meeting. Today, we reviewed the agenda for the upcoming confirmation retreat at Holy Names parish on February 21st. In this retreat, I will be leading the quilt activity where all the students will draw a picture on a quilt of their faith. Later on, 3 members of the Youth Council practiced saying their testimonies, or talks, about their faith. The first speaker talked about the challenges she faced in maintaining her faith, but realizing God's love in the process. The next speaker talked about overcoming hardships in life and how that affects our relationship with God. His main message was to always go back to God when facing challenges. The last speaker discussed his path to choosing God and being transformed with his faith. In the end of each talk, the audience gave positive and constructive feedback to the speakers. I contributed by giving the feedback of connecting the talks to confirmation, keeping eye contact with the audience, and keeping the audience engaged. Lastly, we briefly discussed the Food Fast that we will be planning for on April 18. All the events we are planning for will hopefully introduce youth to their faith and help them build a personal relationship with their faith.


Hours logged: 2 hours

Planning the Confirmation Retreats with Youth Council

Today, January 10, we had our monthly Youth Council meetings. We planned for the upcoming confirmation retreats that we will be leading in February and March for parishes that do not have youth groups to lead the retreats. We discussed the theme song, "Son of Man" by Phil Collins, and how it connected to our faith. From this, we derived a theme for the retreat. I came up with the theme "Journey with Faith", which discusses that even after confirmation it is a constant struggle to maintain our faith and sometimes we forget that God is always walking with us. The group agreed with this theme and chose it as our retreat theme. Next, we talked about the different roles us, as leaders, will play in the retreat. We will be leading a group of 100 8th graders in 2 different parishes. Some leaders will give testimonials about their journey with faith and others will lead prayer services and activities to further help the retreatants understand their own faith. I will be leading a quilt activity where they draw a picture of their faith then after we sow the pieces into a big cross, signifying that they are not alone in their journey with faith. In the next retreat, I will be explaining the song and theme for the retreatants and how it applies to our lives. Lastly, we split into 3 groups and did a simulation on leading a smaller group. For the retreat, each leader will be in charge of hosting discussions with about 10 retreatants about various topics. In the simulation, there was one leader and the rest of the Youth Council acted as 8th grade retreantants. Our goal was to practice leading a smaller group and getting them to discuss topics of the retreat. After, the group would give the leader feedback about their ability to facilitate a group. The feedback I got back was that I was very supportive of the group and gave them great encouragement to share about their ideas. The Youth Council and I completed a lot of planning for the upcoming confirmation retreats.


Hours logged: 2.30 hours

The Work of a Youth Minister

On January 8, I attended a Youth Minister meeting with 10 youth ministers from different parishes in the San Francisco Archdiocese. The purpose of this meeting was to check in with different youth groups to share new ideas and create solutions for problems that one youth minister might be facing. First, we discussed whether the confirmation program should be two years or one year. The ministers came to a consensus that the youth should be in the program for two years to experience and learn more about their faith to hopefully have them continue their faith journey after they are confirmed. I also inputted that, through my experience, having confirmation in 7th and 8th grade gave me more years to be involved in youth group after I was confirmed. Next, one of the minster said she was struggling with growing her youth group. The group and I came up with a number of solutions, such as having an involved support group of adults to help the youth minister nurture the talents of the youth, encourage the parents to continue their faith to guide their children to do the same, and empower the youth that are willing to join youth group so that they can invite other youth to join. The main message the group discussed was having the support of people in the church, such as the pastor, parents, and other adults to nurture and encourage the youth. Finally, we talked about different activities and ideas to teach the youth about the Catholic faith. They talked about how interactive activities that connect to religion work the best to get youth out of their comfort and learn about faith in unexpected ways. This meeting gave me great information on the work of a youth minister. 

  

Hours logged: 3 hours