Part I: Carolyn on the Success of Teen Service Week

Conventional wisdom claims that Teen Service Week can’t possibly succeed.

You want to do what?  For a week? 

You must be joking.  

Teenagers, you say, willingly turning off their phones?  

Unthinkable!  

Spend an hour on a challenging subject?  

They won’t.  

Meaningful thought and discussion?  

Teenagers?  They can’t do it.  Not in the summer anyway.  Not today’s teens.  

Oh, really?  They can and they do. 

Maybe you've yet to appeal to the dignity and maturity of young men and women.  I know from experience that a simple respectful appeal can flout “conventional wisdom.”  Since 1986 Teen Service Week has been asking teens to step up.  Take a chance.  Try.  See for yourself.  Tell me what you think.   And they do. 

I have long been beguiled by TSW.  

Want to find out why?

Teen Service Week is a holistic event.  Through working at our service sites, engaging in prayer, discussion, reflection, and even goofing off during free time, I am challenged to discover and affirm my deepest humanity. TSW calls to the essence of my spirit.  I am deeply inspired by:

• our thought-provoking themes 
• our twice-daily prayers and reflections 
• engaging in service at diverse, urban sites   
• the dedication and compassion of the volunteers and staff at our service sites
• the earnest and full-hearted commitment of our own adult leaders 

And our teens.  Open to new experiences, psyched to be of service, and yes, willing to turn their cell phones off.   We play a game of softball where nobody actually wins and everybody gets a hit.  We wash dishes together.  By hand.  And it’s fun.  I laugh harder and longer on TSW than anywhere else in the world.  The sheer joy of doing important work with a community of fun and hilarious people who understand and accept me for exactly who I am is a wondrous and invigorating thing.  

For each participant, TSW is a decidedly unique and deeply personal adventure.  “Conventional wisdom” doesn’t concern me.  It’s human wisdom that gets me every time.  

  

Teen Service Week is ... and we are ... a force for good in this world.

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tomorrow Carolyn will speak to The Greatest Things ...