Many students have experienced it: a case of the Mondays. Whether it’s the dark circles under eyes that make people doze off in class, the growing amount of homework that seemingly never ends or the pajamas that are donned in pure exhaustion from the weekend before, Mondays are inevitable. But for members of Young Life Club, every other Monday night at 8:08 p.m., the ultimate “party with a purpose” has just begun.
Young Life is a nonprofit organization that exists internationally. With over 1.7 million kids involved, what Young Life members are occasionally doing in Glenview is also happening in Kenya, China or even Italy. Although the club is Christian based, according to Heather Gibbs, GBS Young Life leader, it is open to anyone. Monday meetings are reserved for fun games, dance parties and enjoying music.
“[At] the first Young Life Club that [I] ever went to, I walked in and they were playing this game where a girl had to make a PB&J sandwich with her feet, and then a boy had to eat it off her feet, and they made me do it,” Gibbs described. “So I walked into my first Young Life Club ever, and I was like, ‘What am I doing?’ Then all of a sudden, I’m spreading jelly and peanut butter onto bread with my feet and then a boy is eating it.”
Young Life holds Campaigners every Wednesday night, which are centered around reading and discussing the Gospel. In addition, at the end of every club meeting, a short passage from the Bible is read and connected to club members’ daily lives. Topics could range from Adam, Eve and the serpent, to a man that had leprosy who was miraculously cured by Jesus.
“Two weeks ago we listened to a song by 21 Pilots and talked about it, and we kind of talked about what they were trying to say in the song,” Gibbs said. “And then we read a story from the Bible that related to it and kind of talked about […] how it relates to not only this song, but how it relates to life in high school.”
According to senior AJ Moen, the importance of being in Young Life stands out above anything else. The message of the club itself is what really matters to its members.
“[Young Life] has given me an opportunity to go deeper into my faith and live it out in a realistic high school setting,” Moen said. “In high school, it is really easy to put a mask on and be someone who you are not, and I think Young Life has given me confidence in who I am, and it has shown me that Jesus loves me for who I am.”
According to sophomore Natalie Middaugh, many people who go to Young Life form strong relationships and bonds with their fellow club members. They praise the ability to connect on a higher level with others that are dealing with the same troubles as them.
“You meet new people who, in general, have the same problems and know what you are going through,” Middaugh said.
According to Moen, in addition to Monday and Wednesday meetings, Young Life also has some yearly events. Members can go to a summer camp for five days, go back to the same camp in mid-November during Fall Weekend for three days and participate in a moving lock-in on a Coach bus from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in February. Moen recalls his experience working at a Young Life summer camp as one of the memorable things he’s had.
“I worked at a Young Life camp for a whole month [last summer], and there were 80 people on the crew, so I made like 80 new friends,” Moen said. “Just being able to serve with them and alongside them and grow deeper in our faith together in that place is something I will never forget.”
According to Angie Nelson, Pep Club sponsor, the club is a place where her children, who are members of Young Life, and all others can feel connected to everyone around them no matter who they are or what circumstances they face. Like Moen, she remembers many memorable times during Young Life events.
“Hannah, my senior, on a Young Life 7 to 7 event, called me at like 3 a.m. and said she had broken her ankle, but she didn’t even want to come home, and she had Devin Maki carry her around,” Nelson said.
Hannah is also a junior leader for Young Life. Hannah started in Young Life her freshman year, and the change to become a form of leadership was a natural transition.
“Since [I started Young Life] I’ve been really involved and it’s one of my favorite things that I do now,” Hannah said. “So, when the opportunity came up to become a junior leader I couldn’t deny it. I want to be a Young Life leader when I go to college, so I thought it would be a great beginning to get involved in the leadership parts early on. Also, I’m a peer group leader and at Young Life I, sometimes, get to lead freshmen in discussion so leading is just something I like to do.”
Also remembering the event, Hannah recalls how she hadn’t originally known her ankle was broken until later that night. However, she chose to continue despite her injury.
“There were four hours until the event was over, so I thought [I] could stick it out,” Hannah said. “And the leaders and my friends carried me around on and off the bus and if I wanted to go somewhere.”
Between all the events Young Life offers, Hannah’s favorite memory with the club’s members was a camp held at a Frontier ranch in Buena Vista, Colorado.
“The camp was in the mountains, so it was so different than Glenview and at night the stars were unreal,” Hannah said. “So it was just totally different than the environment I was used to. Also, camp was just a week packed with things I don’t do on an everyday basis: climb a mountain, horseback ride, ride a mechanical bull.”
Another event that makes it to the top of Hannah’s club experiences is the three-day Fall Weekend, which was held this year at the Lake Geneva Youth camp, and took place from Nov. 14 – 16.
“Fall weekend is definitely my favorite event,” Hannah said. “It’s three days of really fun activities and even though it’s short I’ve met so many cool people from surrounding areas like New Trier and Glenbrook North and farther places like Hinsdale and Naperville. It just brings everyone together and it’s so fun.”
The positive experiences that Young Life members have are extremely important, according to Gibbs. They gain more adults who truly care about them who they feel like they can talk to, and a safe place to ask hard questions about faith. All of these factors contribute to the over arching message of Young Life.
“I think there a lot of high school students who are looking for somewhere to be loved and don’t realize that they are already loved,” Gibbs said. “You are loved by the God who created you, regardless of who you are or what you do.”
