Dear
Parents,
I would like
to take this time to welcome your teen to Life Teen! Many of you have teens who
are already involved in Life Teen, and we welcome you back for a fun summer!
Some of you are new to the Life Teen experience, and we are very excited to
welcome your teen. Life Teen is not
just religious education. River Valley Life Teen is a youth group for teens in grades 9-12.
This
is lengthy, and stuffed full of important information. I ask that you bear with
me and read this in its entirety.
I apologize in advance!
I am very
excited to announce that River Valley Life Teen officially has its own home!
The old Abilities Unlimited building has been purchased and donated to
Immaculate Conception Church. Plans are beginning to renovate the building, and
we are very excited to have the first Catholic youth center in our region!
Please help us spread the word about this awesome blessing! It is a new and
exciting adventure in this ever-growing Life Teen program, and I am so proud to
be a part of it! The building is going to require a lot of work, so I hope that
you will all consider helping to make this a wonderful place for our teens. GOD IS GOOD!
We have
several fun activities planned for this summer, and would love for your teen to
attend all of them! Some of the activities have deadlines, or require the teens
to sign up, so please look closely at the summer calendar.
There are
three ways for you and your teen to stay in touch with Life Teen events. 1.
Facebook- if you are on Facebook, please search for River Valley LifeTeen and
friend us! All activities are posted here.
2. Twitter-
follow us @rvlifeteen
3. Our blog-
www.rivervalleylifeteen.blogspot.com
We are very
excited about the upcoming fall semester, and planning has already started! New
and exciting things are happening for River Valley Life Teen, so stay tuned to
Facebook, Twitter, the Blog, and the Immaculate Conception Sunday Bulletin for
news and calendars.
One thing we
are very excited about is creating the new Teen Core. Last year was a first for
us in the Teen Core area and we had a wonderful group of seniors who led the
way in this venture. This year, I am very excited to announce that all Core
Team members, College Core members, and Teen Core members will be required to
attend a one-day retreat for leadership training that revolves around a book
called, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” by Sean Covey. I am very
excited to dive into this book with the Core teams, and watch the difference
will make within each member of each Core Team, as well as the relationships
within Life Teen. Here is an overview of this book: “A national bestseller, Sean Covey applies
the timeless principles of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to teens and
the tough issues and life-changing decisions they face. Being a teenager is
both wonderful and challenging. This ultimate teenage success book provides a
step-by-step guide to helps teens improve their self-image, build friendships,
resist peer pressure, achieve goals, get along with parents, and more. This
book is full of incredible stories by and about today's teens. Cartoons, ideas
and quotes make the book fun, engaging and relevant from cover to cover.”
Every teen
who is interested in becoming a part of the Teen Core must have received the
sacrament of Confirmation and have attended/or be signed up to attend Search.
Each teen will be required to fill out an application to be on Teen Core. As
Teen Core members, teens will be expected to uphold certain requirements and
behave in acceptable ways in public and online. We take this role very
seriously, as they will be put in leadership positions within our youth group.
There are minimum costs associated with being on Teen Core. The teens will be
required to purchase a Teen Core t-shirt that will cost approximately $15. Teen
Core must also purchase the book for the leadership training. We are working on
getting a bulk rate for books and will have more info later. If your teen is
chosen to work on the Confirmation Retreat team, additional costs may be
incurred. In order to be considered for the Confirmation Retreat Team, a teen
must be an active member of Teen Core.
We are in
desperate need of volunteers for the Life Teen program. Please look below in
the frequently asked questions to see how you can help. All volunteers are
required to be VIRTUS trained and current on the Virtus bulletins.
Here are the
answers to a few frequently asked questions:
1. Q- “Why
does my teen have to come to Life Teen if he/she attends Trinity Junior High?”
A- The
Diocese of Little Rock requires that all teens in grades 9 and 10, who desire
to be confirmed, attend 2 years of preparatory classes in an approved religious
education program. In order for a teen to be eligible for Confirmation, they
must attend Life Teen during their 9th and 10th grade
years. Religion classes at Trinity Junior High do not count towards this
requirement. I am the father of a Trinity graduate and a Trinity 8th
grader and my children must meet this requirement too. I did not fully
understand this requirement until I became the youth minister and began to see
how Life Teen changes the lives of teens. Our goal at Life Teen is to change
the idea of Life Teen from a “have to” to a “want to”.
2. Q- “Who
can come to Life Teen?”
A- Life Teen
is for all teens in grades 9-12. Life Teen is not over when a teen receives
Confirmation. After Confirmation, teens are encouraged to attend a SEARCH
retreat and become part of Teen Core for Life Teen, which allows them to help
with Life Nights, become a part of Retreat teams, and discover leadership
qualities that they possess. Teens in grades 7-8 are invited to attend Edge on
Wednesday nights.
3. Q- “How
can I help with Life Teen if I don’t want to teach?”
A- We are
looking for all types of volunteers! Volunteers are a very important part of
Life Teen. Without volunteers, our program will not continue to grow and
flourish. We need volunteers to prepare meals, assist at the sign in table each
Sunday, be a “warm body” during Life Nights, lead small groups, help set up on
Sundays for Life Nights, help clean up after Life Nights, etc. The list goes on
and on! I am the first to admit that before I became a part of the Core Team I
was not very excited about working with teens. I had never worked with kids
this age! However, once Mandy and I began working with the teens we were amazed
at how much we loved it. Your teens bless us beyond measure, and we cannot
imagine our lives without Life Teen.
4. Q- “Do
the teens have to attend Life Teen Mass at 5:00pm on Sundays?”
A- We do not
require that the teens attend Life Teen Mass. We believe strongly that families
should attend Mass together. However, we do encourage the teens to attend Life
Teen Mass, and we have many families who attend this Mass as well. My own
family began attending Life Teen Mass before Mandy and I started working with
Life Teen. The Life Teen Mass is for the teens. We want the teens to take
leadership roles within the Mass and help usher, altar serve, take up
offertory, become a part of the Life Teen band, lector, or even become
Eucharistic ministers (after they become Confirmed). Many of our teens also do these things at
other Masses on each weekend.
5. Q- “Does
Life Teen take any trips?”
A- We take
several trips during the school year. Here are some examples of what to expect:
*Sunday, October 21- Senior High
Youth Rally in Little Rock, AR
*Friday, November 16- Sunday,
November 18- Region X- Regional Youth
Conference for Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas teens to be held in San
Angelo, TX. More info will be
coming soon.
*Saturday, January 19- Sunday,
January 20- Weekend Extravaganza and
March for Life in Little Rock, AR.
* Spring Break Ski Trip
*At least one retreat in the fall or
spring- location and dates coming later!
*Young Christians Weekend at Silver Dollar City in Branson on
a Friday- Sunday in the spring- More details will come later!
6. Q- “Does Life Teen have any fundraisers?”
A- Yes, Life
Teen has several fundraisers to help offset costs of trips. Every teen who
participates in a fundraiser will get to “bank” a percentage of the profits for
any trips that Life Teen will take during the year. The amount banked varies
from fundraiser to fundraiser, so the more your teen works the more money they
can bank. Here are a few examples of some fundraisers to expect:
·
Prime
Rib dinner- August 25- first moneymaking opportunity of the year!
·
Life
Teen 5K run
·
Car
Washes
·
Chocolate
Covered Strawberries
I look
forward to your teen being an important part of our Life Teen family!
GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME!
Chuck
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