Photos: Check out a gallery of images from the YSN 2012 retreat weekend
Related Story: Youth Speak News team gather in Toronto for annual retreat
On May 18, the young writers who fill the pages of Youth Speak News gathered in Toronto for a three-day weekend of workshops, presentations and congratulations on a great year. As each of us arrived at the Newman Centre, some after cross-Canada flights, there were suddenly voices and personalities to put to the faces and names which have graced the pages of Youth Speak News this past year. Though I can’t speak to what the others expected out of the retreat, I was happy to find a distraction from my birthday anxieties.
However, as the programming went on, the weekend acted as less of a distraction and more of a confrontation to such feelings. The retreat began with Fr. Frank Portelli, director of the Office of Catholic Youth, talking to us about vocation. As he discussed the journey in discovering his path in life, I couldn’t help but return to thinking about my own future. Such thoughts continued as we heard from other professionals in the Catholic media world and learned more about photojournalism, newspaper layout and television broadcasting.
As the weekend went on I realized I felt less anxious about the impending end of my teen years and more excited about what was to come. This was, in part, because of the workshops and the amazing individuals who hosted them, as they reminded me of the passion for a career in media I sometimes forget I have.
However, what perhaps helped me even more was meeting the other Youth Speak News writers and listening to their stories and experiences. These are individuals who have taken their faith, education and lives into their own hands and rarely is one surrounded by that many inspiring young people. Because of them, and the retreat as a whole, I feel more comfortable entering this new stage in my life.
Though I haven’t lost any of the worries or doubts about my future, I know what I have gained: experience, perspective and best of all, nine new friends.
(Hurren, 19, is a media, information and technoculture student at the University of Western Ontario.)