Young Life, an organization focused on educating teenagers on the gospel of Jesus Christ while incorporating fun games and activities, is a popular club for Jupiter High students. Students from all schools all over Palm Beach County attend Young Life including private, public and home education schools. Young life was founded Oct. 16, 1941. It was founded by Jim Rayburn.
Some games they play incorporate team bonding and being able to partner with other young life teens. This creates opportunity for students to meet other kids their age from other schools.
Young Life is available in over 100 different counties across the US. There are over 40 locations in Fla. Palm Beach County being the closest Young Life location to Jupiter High School.
“The idea is kids can come together each week to learn about the love of God without having to belong to a church,” Callie Cyr, sophomore, said.
Young Life gives opportunities for hundreds of teens to meet new people who align with similar values as them. Allowing teens from all schools in Palm Beach County to come together and form new relationships.
Every week Young Life provides a theme where the kids get to dress up and play games based off of the provided theme of the week. Some of these games include baby backpack and the cup game. The cup game is where each person gets a partner and the partners get one cup. They have to play head, shoulders, knees and toes and when the host says cup, the first person to grab the cup wins and then finds a new partner who won previously. The game continues until there are two people left and they play for the winner.
“We always dance to music and play games, most games are partner games which allows for everyone to meet new people around them,” Cyr said.
This club is mostly run by students from Palm Beach Atlantic University, who are Young Life Leaders. They lead the games and at each club, a few kids are picked at random to come up and try and win a challenge.
“My favorite game we played is where we had to find a partner and eat donuts off the ground for donut night,” Alyssa Drumm, sophomore, said.
Young Life not only allows teens to come together and create friends, but they also learn about God at the end of each club night.
“At the end of each club night one of the leaders comes up and tells us a little about their life and how they experienced Jesus’s love changing their perspective on life,” Cyr said.
When these leaders share the personal challenges they faced during their high school years and how they overcame them it allows the kids to understand they are not alone in anything they are going through. The Young Life leaders work together to give these kids advice to guide them through anything they might be facing.
“When you get older, there are so many more things introduced to you that feed into doubt; however, Young Life is so magnetic to kids our age it completely festers your love for God. It entirely changed my life and nothing I do will ever be able to repay for what young life did for me and my relationship,” Cyr said.
