2nd Annual Youth Night
Theme:  ‘Are You Courageous Enough?’
 
     St. Paul’s Youth Ministry hosted its’ 2nd Annual Youth Night on Saturday, March 31, 2012.  The theme was courage.  Eighteen participants, from grades 5-12, joined together for a fun-filled evening.  Many adult volunteers and families of the participants worked together to supply the dinner, drinks, and dessert for the evening.
            The evening began with 4pm Mass.  We then headed to Fr. Rausch Hall for a dinner of Macaroni and Cheese, walking tacos, hot dogs, and vegetables.  (Many thanks to the wonderful kitchen helpers we had on this evening—Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Marin, Mrs. White, and everyone else who was in and out of the kitchen!)
            Next, a guest speaker, Brianne Kravetsky (senior from Hancock Central), spoke with the students about what courage meant to her throughout her life journey to this point.  Afterwards, Miss White, Mrs. White, and Mark White presented a comical, yet thought-provoking, puppet show regarding what it meant to be “a part of God’s Army”.
            From there, students broke into four groups and traveled to five different bible stations, set up by Kristy White.  Each station spoke of a Hero from the Bible and students were instructed to read scripture at each station about the Hero depicted.  After all of the groups had been to each station, we gathered together to see what we could re-call about each of the Heroes and how we, too, need to “shield ourselves” from evil and be courageous in doing what we are called to do in every situation in our lives.  (Bill Gross designed white-erase shields for each Hero discussed, so the groups could each write informative facts on them with dry-erase markers after they read about each hero.)
            Mark White then lightened the mood with some active and fun ice-breaker activities.  From there, students could choose an activity to engage in before re-grouping for ice cream sundaes.  Students were playing night basketball outside in the parking lot, playing on the Wii stations that were set up, or scrapbooking.
            Students then had dessert and gathered to watch the movie ‘Courageous’.  While the movie was very long, the students enjoyed the message and could, most likely, relate to some of the real-life situations portrayed.  After the movie, students received a discussion guide that contained reference to the scripture regarding specific scenes from the movie.  They could each bring the booklet home to reflect privately on their thoughts regarding some of the scenes and read from the bible for guidance.
            Our evening ended with Taize prayer, set up and executed by Father Chris and Bob Collarini.  The church was completely dark, with the exception of candles that were lit and laid out in the shape of the Cross.  Students sat around the edges of the cross, looking into the candles, while listening to the sound of Bob’s music and Father Chris’ reflective prayer.  Some joined in the singing, while others sat in silence—listening with open hearts.  A perfect ending to our evening.
            Many thank you’s to everyone involved and wishes for a Holy and Blessed Easter!