From a summer camp dedicated to fun and faith to Sunday night devotionals, students meet to bond with each other and grow in  their faith through a club called Young Life. However, this club serves not only as a safe haven for spiritual study, but as a community of like-minded thinkers, tapping them into connections that stretch across the nation.

“Young Life is a Christian organization that’s all around the country,” Isabella Gatti (11) said. “It’s just a safe environment to hang out. To be around good people. And it strengthens your relationship with God because we have Bible talk, we talk about our lives and it’s just a really safe and fun place to be.”

There are weekend camps and summer camps offered by Young Life. This year, White Station Young Life will travel to Windy Gap for their summer retreat.

“Students get together at the middle school and high school level just to enjoy a community with others that are like from your same walk of life to enjoy the same things that you do,” Garrett McNeil (11) said. “Whereas the other part is also obviously a spiritual aspect, fostering a respect for Christianity and a faith together with your peers.”

White Station Young Life meets outside of campus once a week and is not sponsored by any teacher. The middle school portion of Young Life is called WyldLife. Some students have been in the club since middle school and gained long friendships from camp. 

“I entered the program in middle school, because in middle school it is called WyldLife,” McNeil said. “Some of my friends were going [to WyldLife] in seventh grade. I [did not] know what it was, but they were having a lot of fun. So, I decided to go and didn’t really know what to expect, and I’ve loved it ever since.”

There are no requirements to be a part of Young Life. There is no specific church sponsoring them, so they are not tied to any specific denomination, and people do not have to be Christian to join.

“It can range anywhere from kids who have gone to church every Sunday their whole lives, to kids who don’t know what [Christianity] is and are interested in it and want to see what it has to offer,” Reid Lloyd (12) said. “We meet on Mondays at 7:27 [p.m.] in our Young Life building on Colonial Road.” 

People join Young Life for a sense of community and gain bonds with friends through their meetings. Christians join to strengthen their faith and some people join to learn about the religion even if they themselves are not of Christian faith. 

“I joined Young Life because after quarantine, I was getting kind of disconnected with my faith.” Lloyd said. “And I wanted a way to get back into it without just going to church. I wanted a sense of brotherhood and fellowship with students there. I felt more connection with people my age, and as I got older, there was more of a sense of mentorship to younger people.”