By: Regina Fernandes
YCL 2025 marked the 21st year YCL has been running for year 12s in leadership roles in all secondary Catholic schools within the archdiocese. YCL focuses on helping students develop their leadership skills as well as their spiritual life to better equip them during year 13.
We kicked off Sunday afternoon with introductions to the leadership team and a few icebreakers. Sabrina was our MC for the camp and created a relaxed, laidback vibe that encouraged the students to interact with each other and build those friendships. Each student was assigned to a service group, a group of about 10 students from each college who worked together on different teambuilding activities such as the sandcastle and prep for YAFA.
Each day was split between whole group sessions with one speaker, workshops for each service group, games and free time. One of the most well-received talks was presented by our St Bernard’s Tuākana, Angelo. His talk on prayer reimagined how teenagers typically think of prayer, rather than a mindless ritual, it is a conversation with God that is open. As referenced, “God doesn’t want our perfection, He just wants our attention.” All the students reiterated how relatable and beneficial this quote and talk was for understanding God and especially their personal prayer.
A beautiful part of YCL was getting to know the students and learning their purpose for YCL. Within the small workshops we ran, we helped prepare them for their upcoming leadership roles with topics such as public speaking, teambuilding and dealing with difficult people. These were also accompanied by workshops to develop their spiritual life that focused on prayer, understanding hope and charism. These workshops helped build the bond between the service groups and the leaders to get to know the students.
Each day we had two hours of free time where students were allowed back on their phones for around 40 minutes. It was great to see more students each day either not even using their phones or calling their parents and immediately handing it in to go hang out with each other. There were constant games being played with volleyball in the gym, rugby in the pool and lines for the water and mud slide.
Students who had avoided each other on the first day were laughing, joking and chatting as if they had been friends for years.
On the last night, we had reconciliation night, where there was confession and prayer stations set up for students to talk to God. This was an emotional time that was filled with emotion, empathy and connection. Students comforted each other and sat down reading the Bible, learning the Rosary and sitting in silence outside. The silent atmosphere was filled with the Holy Spirit. After this beautiful moment, there was a bonfire with a riff-off that was filled with laughter and rambunctious singing.
The next day was bittersweet, with students exchanging socials to connect with each other later and thanking leaders for their experiences. It was amazing to see the growth over the past four days of each student and an overall beautiful experience for all involved.
