MOROGA - USA - Lasallian Student Leaders 2006: “Teenagers.” Oftentimes society tends to associate that word with laziness, trouble, and disrespect. On July 16, 2006, however, a group of teenagers who fit a very different profile exploded through the doors of Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga. Full of enthusiasm and excitement, more than 170 students, from fifteen high schools in seven states, gathered to spend a week together on the campus of the De La Salle Christian Brothers’ premier college in the West. It was the third annual Lasallian Student Leaders conference, a summer gathering sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers’ District of San Francisco (the western province of the Christian Brothers). Each year at Lasallian Student Leaders (LSL), students work together, with their faculty moderators and a volunteer staff of Lasallian Collegians, to deepen their understanding of the Lasallian educational mission, to develop leadership skills, and to establish collaborative relationships among schools.

This year’s LSL was the largest yet, involving more than 210 participants. The week was, as always, an intense mixture of work, training, brainstorming, planning, coordinating, and executing. “At first it was hard to open up because you didn’t know anyone.” said Sarah Wright of Denver’s J.K. Mullen High School. “But I realized that we actually had something in common when we all asked Saint John Baptist de la Salle to pray for us. That made it easier to open up.”

What the participants have in common is that they are being educated in the tradition of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, founded by Saint John Baptist de La Salle more than 320 years ago. The mission of the De La Salle Christian Brothers is “to give a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor.” A popular way of expressing the values that underlie that educational mission, one widely used at our high schools, is the statement of five core principles that a Lasallian school should embody: These principles are Faith in the Presence of God; Respect for All Persons; Concern for the Poor and for Social Justice; Quality Education; and Inclusive Community. LSL gives students who hold leadership positions in their high schools the opportunity to come together to discuss how their school community is being guided by these principles and how they as student leaders can help.

Throughout the week each student attended a number of school and committee meetings, where each group was given a specific responsibility (a dance, banquet, rally, or media presentation) to coordinate. Here, the students who were strangers when they met learned how to work together positively and effectively together. Prayer and liturgy, skits and socializing, meals together and nightly mini-dances topped off by the big dance, were among the many activities that let students bond and form community. The students were also entertained and challenged by guest speakers.
^{(Tanya Susoev)}

WISCONSIN - USA - Midwest Lasallian Youth gathering: Congratulations to Jeff Daffner and the entire Roncalli - Manitowoc campus ministry team for a very successful Midwest Lasallian Youth gathering last week! Being with all the kids, doing service, and experiencing the tremendous hospitality of Jeff and the Roncalli folks was a big boost for our kids and a great start to the new school year!

Here an excerpt of the article published in August in the MANITOWOC Herald Time Reporter in Winconsin: More than 100 high school and college students are returning to their hometowns today with changed hearts and minds.

"Lasallian Youth strives to answer the call of all poor around us. Mother Teresa said that those who are poor in possessions are richer still than those who are poor in spirit," said Sara Masarik, campus minister at Roncalli.

Lasallian Youth serve at local pantries, work with Habitat for Humanity, are tending to a garden on the school grounds with the produce to be donated, and tutor struggling students at Roncalli, as well as at the San Juan Diego Middle School in Racine.

Masarik said Roncalli students serve the "socially poor" by visiting shut-ins and nursing homes, and the "spiritually poor" by running retreats and serving in parishes.

The theme of the camp was "Simply Love," reflecting a Mother Teresa invitation: "Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier."

You can read an article about the gathering HERE.
^{(News: Midwest District)}

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