OCF is proud to partner with FOCUS on multiple projects and missions, including YES College Days and Real Break trips. As such, it is our pleasure to announce that FOCUS is launching their first annual Servant Leadership Conference (SLC) on Memorial Day Weekend (May 25th – 28th). Open to high school seniors and college students, the SLC represents an opportunity for young people looking to learn more about servant leadership, community work, and their faith. For more information on the SLC and to register, visit FOCUS’s site here.
We sat down with Larissa Hatch, a staff member with FOCUS, to learn a little bit more about the conference. You can read our interview with Larissa here:
1. Give us a little background information on the conference–where, when, what are the topics, how much does it cost, why should a student attend?
The conference takes place in the beautiful Phoenix area (a great place if you’ve never seen a cactus!) where Assumption Greek Orthodox Church will be hosting YES! The registration fee is $175, which will cover all meals, housing, and activities; it is also a donation to the program so we can keep serving those we encounter on future YES trips across the country. You should go if you want to continuing growing into your leadership skills. Chances are, you already (definitely) have the stuff it takes to be a leader and this conference will be an opportunity to reveal your real strengths while connecting with some other amazing people in the YES family from all over the country.
2. What was the impetus behind creating the conference? What void in high school/college students’ lives are you hoping to fill?
The best part about all things YES is that the goal is very simple: leave a little more aware and a lot stronger! A lot more happens, and the experience always evolves as we go. Everything happens on God’s time and His agenda.
Young adults don’t always get recognized for the leadership and direction they can provide to their communities. We hear that they are inexperienced, too young to get it, or are just ignored. It is important to honor everyone’s perspective and experience, especially the students as they have more to offer than we’ll ever know.
3. Why should prospective students be excited about the idea of attending the conference? What is special or unique about the conference that students can’t get elsewhere?
We will never tell anyone how they should feel or what should happen for them. THAT is what is unique to YES–we simply exist for the sake of the group and our growth, and God handles the rest. Students are encouraged to show up as they are–you are the introvert, great! you are the life of the crowd, awesome! The beauty of YES is that it isn’t even imposed, it is innate, for everyone to embrace each other and share in this unique experience which reveals a level of vulnerability and love unmatched elsewhere.
Remember, to register or learn more about the conference, follow this link to FOCUS’s site!
This is the first year of my college career that I won’t be applying for the Student Leadership Board–it feels weird. I’ve loved my position here, made some amazing friends and ridiculous memories alike, and hopefully done some good for the parents, students, and chapter advisers that swing by the blog.
In a perfect world, I’m back for year 3. But the world ain’t perfect–it’s incredibly busy, sometimes super stressful, and full of sacrifices. I’m incredibly blessed to attend a great college–but it’s very rigorous; incredibly blessed to have rewarding jobs in my prospective field for the future–but they demand the bulk of my time.
It would be cowardly and dishonest to not stand before you today and tell you I didn’t do nearly as good of a job this year in my position as the Publications Student Leader as I should have. I didn’t do nearly as good of a job on schoolwork, actual job work, going to the gym, reading for leisure, whatever. Life overwhelmed me.
I tell you this to offer a cautionary tale: if you’re going to do something, do it right. When you apply to the Student Leadership Board, it shouldn’t be primarily that you may throw it on your resume (though it certainly doesn’t hurt). It shouldn’t be because your friends are also applying for the Board (though they should and that’d be nice). It should be because you want to help Orthodox college students get through the briar patch–you want to, and you can as well.
Being on the OCF board is mission work. We forget that sometimes: it is mission work for the Church. We are spreading Christianity, not only to those in our communities who may be interested, but also to those who were raised in the Church. Whether we grew up in the Church or only recently joined it, we are always growing into the Church, growing through the Church. As we develop, so much our relationship with the Church–we encounter new things, experience and overcome new struggles by breaching new, previously undiscovered corners of our faith.
In short, college changes us: but the Church accompanies and even guides us through that change. OCF helps the Church do just that.
Being on the Student Leadership Board places the onus of helping the Church guide students through the college change squarely on your shoulders. This is your mission. When you work as a Regional Student Leader, you organize events for, reach out to, and coordinate with all of the OCFers in your area. When you work on the Programs side of things–Real Break, College Conferences–you spend all year forming the incredible, nationwide opportunities that only places like OCF can provide. When you work on my side of things–Media, Podcast, PR, Publications–you have a daily grind of linking OCF chapters from across the nation, and unifying us all through our common struggles and successes.
But you aren’t only the agent of the mission; you are also the subject. You are in college; you change. It is, I think, a fallacy to say “I am not strong in my faith, I’m struggling so much, I can’t be on the OCF board.” Rather, joining the board only gets you closer to the process, deeper into the restorative and strengthening powers of the Church and the faith. It is work, yes–but it is also respite, joy, and salvation. That is, inherently, what I think we all experience in our faith: work, trial, tribulation, struggle–but through these fires, we grow and experience Christ.
The conference takes place in the beautiful Phoenix area (a great place if you’ve never seen a cactus!) where Assumption Greek Orthodox Church will be hosting YES! The registration fee is $175, which will cover all meals, housing, and activities; it is also a donation to the program so we can keep serving those we encounter on future YES trips across the country. You should go if you want to continuing growing into your leadership skills. Chances are, you already (definitely) have the stuff it takes to be a leader and this conference will be an opportunity to reveal your real strengths while connecting with some other amazing people in the YES family from all over the country.
