Young Catholic leadership

  ADW Young Catholic Leader Programme The Archdiocese of Wellington Young Catholic Leader (YCL) is an annual five-day faith formation and leadership development course for Year-12 student leaders entering their…

 

ADW Young Catholic Leader Programme

The Archdiocese of Wellington Young Catholic Leader (YCL) is an annual five-day faith formation and leadership development course for Year-12 student leaders entering their final college year.

Based on Marist Youth Leadership the course was gifted to the Archdiocese by the Marist Fathers in 2004. It includes skills formation, spirituality, and faith perspective. The 2014 programme, held at Forest Lake Campsite 13–17 December, used leadership skills of the Archdiocese’s Young Church Ministries’ team and YCL graduates.

Two members of the 2014 group share their experiences.

Anna Cacace, St Catherine’s College, Kilbirnie: YCL camp was one of the highlights of my summer holidays. We developed leadership skills, explored Catholic teachings, built relationships with leaders from other Catholic schools and enjoyed food that could not go without seconds.

After camp, I developed my own understanding of being a good leader, which is Servant Leadership – to lead and serve. A good leader doesn’t put herself apart from the others; rather she submerges herself with everyone. YCL camp gave me great insight into effective leadership. It was such an eye-opening and challenging week, full of hilarious and reflective moments. I’m truly thankful to have been part of Young Catholic Leaders.

Ally Ringrose, St Marys College, Thorndon: YCL 2014 was the greatest experience and one I will never forget. It was an awesome entrance into Year 13 in preparation for the leadership challenges I will be faced with at school.

The building blocks taught are so relative to what I want to accomplish in my school. Through YCL I gained confidence in my own abilities and the impact I can have in my own school.

Along with the many lessons learned, YCL was the perfect opportunity to meet other young leaders in my area and create a great support network of colleagues who also understand the challenges we face as young leaders.

The leaders had a huge impact on my own self-belief. Through their motivation we saw their faith in us and our goals for the year. Over the five days of camp we accomplished so much. It’s really exciting to think about what we can achieve in a year.

The friends I made on camp I know will be friends for life. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have taken part in and experienced YCL 2014.