Young Life brings students of all faiths together with fun activities

posted January 26, 2009

by Brendan Erickson of Campanile

Courtesy of Audrey Blomgren

Paly junior Cassie Prioleau (top right) frosts the face of a fellow junior and Young Life member, Jared Beeson (center), at the group's Dec. 15 meeting. Young Life aims to spread a sense of community and increase faith in a Christian setting.

After Palo Alto High School junior Mikkel Nielsen shoots marshmallows at his friends, he ducks for cover around the corner. The war continues as marshmallows fly through the air. This is Nielsen's first Young Life event and he is loving every minute of it.

"We made guns out of PVC pipes and fired mini marshmallows at each other," Nielsen said. "It was awesome."

Young Life is a Christian youth organization, not to be confused with Palo Alto High School's Christian Club. It is a nonprofit organization that is not affiliated with Paly, although both groups are accepting of everyone, whether or not they are Christian.

"I am Christian, but you don't need to be Christian to join," said sophomore Paige Devine, the host of Young Life in Palo Alto. "Young Life is just a great thing to be a part of."

Although Young Life and Christian Club are two entirely different groups, math teacher and Christian Club adviser Arne Lim and Young Life's South Peninsula area director Audrey Blomgren, are good friends, according to Nielsen.

"So I'm in the Christian Club at Paly and [Young Life] met with us and asked us to join [their group]," Nielsen said. "They came to our club and told us about what they do. It's really cool."

Young Life aims to connect with its participants through games and fun activities, such as the marshmallow fight Nielsen attended. The other meetings hosted by Young Life have been arranged by Devine.

At the first introduction meeting of Young Life on Dec. 15, 2008, there was a white elephant gift exchange, a competition to decorate people's faces like a cookie and a race to wrap people in wrapping paper.

Activities such as these inspire those who generally might not consider joining Young Life to participate in the group.

Others join the group because they want to try something new or meet new people.

"I am a Christian Club leader, so I thought I might as well give it a try and see what it's like," senior Jean Kim said. "It's nice to see other Christians at Paly who don't go to [Christian] Club."

Other people join Young Life because it is a great social network to meet new people of a similar faith.

"I joined Young Life because it is really fun and it is a great way to meet people and hang out with friends," Devine said.

Some of the leaders and participants are Stanford University graduates or students, but they still connect with Paly students because they are close in age.

"The leadership is really nice and laid back," Kim said. "You can tell they put a lot of time into it. They are around our age and are understanding."

Some might be deterred from joining Christian Club because of the time limit on meetings held at lunch.

"With Christian Club, it is at lunch so we have a time crunch, but Young Life has a lot more time because it is on a Monday night," Kim said. "We also meet at someone's house, so it is more relaxing than meeting in a classroom."

Since Young Life meets on a weeknight, it gives students a break from stress and work.

"It's a nice way to chill out about homework," Kim said.

Young Life also organizes camping trips to help the participants bond and get to know each other better.

According to Young Life's Web site, almost 90,000 kids around the world spend a week or weekend at an annual Young Life camp per year. There are over 20 camps in North and South America and sometimes they lease or rent campgrounds.

Young Life branches out to over 800 communities across the United States and in more than 50 countries. Their staff has more than 3,100 members and over 28,000 volunteers.

Overall, Young Life is a popular youth group that joins high school students with a common passion for faith in a fun and exciting way.

"It's a sin to bore kids with gospel," Young Life founder Jim Rayburn said.

Its members agree.

"Young Life is just a really great thing to be a part of," Devine said. "It's amazing and anyone that wants to should definitely join."