Student Interns: Joining the Center Family
by Liz Rodriguez (KCUYC Intern)

This past summer I had the privilege of being a part of the KCUYC family. Having experienced the community and joy of the youth center before, I was excited for the opportunity to be involved again. I don’t think anyone knew how nervous or scared I was to be taking on a role that required more responsibility, or how much each of them would shape me.

From the beginning of July to the beginning of August we dove into three teams: drama, choir, and audio-visual. The goal for every team was to present a message of hope. Each group met twice a week for an hour to put together the project they were working on. Although no group had a lot of time to prepare before they performed, all three teams had an awesome outcome.

At the end of the summer we took a trip to Chicago. We got little sleep…but the trip was still a huge success because we got to engage in life together. While we were in Chicago, we joined together in devotionals, helped clean another youth center, toured parts of the city, and visited an urban hip-hop church. The most challenging and fulfilling part of my summer was putting together the devotionals for the trip because it was something I had never done and I doubted my ability to do it well.

Each morning we began with a verse and a challenge for the day. We sat together and discussed how to pray, how we saw God the previous day, and why we serve others. During this time I began to feel most strongly that we were a family, but even more, I could see how God was working in each of us, and teaching all of us what it is to act out love. These devotionals helped to develop in me a confidence I truly needed, but even more than that, they showed me the true reality of the youth center. I found that the KCUYC is more than a place where youth from the neighborhood can come to hang out and learn. It is a community in which the love of Christ is transforming the lives of students—and mentors—alike.