Mater Dei students minister to other youth at retreats presented in three schools

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
March 22, 2007

Last fall middle school students from Mater Dei School in Sioux City presented a retreat to the elementary students in their own school.

This Lenten season the middle school students evangelized to peers in other areas as they presented that same retreat to students in three other Catholic schools in the diocese.

According to Julie Tebbe, director of campus ministry at Mater Dei School, the retreat was presented to students in kindergarten to eighth grade at St. Patrick School in Sheldon and to students in kindergarten through fifth grade at Sacred Heart School in Sioux City and Holy Cross School in Sioux City.

"Our theme was Fingerprints of God. It showed that we are all uniquely shaped by God and we are that way because of the events, circumstances and people that we come across in our lives," she explained.

The retreats were facilitated by about 75 Mater Dei students who serve on the LIF Team, made up of sixth through eighth grade students. About 25 students helped at each of the three locations.

"I definitely think that it brings out their own leadership qualities and provides an opportunity for them to share their faith," said Tebbe. "It also encourages other young people to share their own faith in a safe environment."

The retreat opened with an activity that helped students realize the importance of teamwork. They built a human bridge and the smallest "troll," which usually was kindergarten student, had to cross the bridge.

Next, about eight LIF (Living Instruments of Faith) team members spoke of experiences of how God helped them or was visible in their lives.

Tebbe told the retreatants that God works in their lives all of the time and they can get to know the Lord better when they reflect on the people and the events in their own lives.

Students then participated in another two activities. Half of the students broke into small groups for discussion. Using a five-finger activity, the students spoke about a specific topic for each finger. For instance, they spoke about what they liked about their parents, they named two friends and what made them special and qualities they found to be special in themselves. Further discussion came in beachball sharing - they could talk in their small group after catching a beachball that was thrown to them.

The other half of the students had one hand painted and they each left their handprint on a poster - containing the Fingerprints of God.

Julie Perreault, an eighth grade student at Mater Dei and member of the LIF team, said she liked being involved in the retreat because in this format other students discover that learning about their faith can be fun. At the same time, it helps the student facilitators become better leaders.

Another eighth grade student and member of the LIF team, Mary Goebel, said she liked the concept of youth ministering to other youth.

"It makes the kids want to participate more because they are so used to having adult teachers, they might like it better with younger teachers," she said.

Goebel, who liked the experience of leading others, pointed out that the other students might also like learning in this type of format as a change over classroom environment.

Kelly Daniels, president of the LIF team at Mater Dei, said she hoped that by attending the retreat the other students would learn to trust in God and learn the importance of working together.

Like Goebel, she liked the concept of students ministering to other students.

"When kids interact with kids, I believe there is more of connection because we can understand each other better," she said.

In addition, many of the elementary students look up to the middle school students as role models.

The students who participated in the retreat had positive things to say about the experience.

"They taught us about our relationship with God and our faith and how God shapes our life," said Ben Eckert, a fourth grade student at Holy Cross School in Sioux City.

Another fourth grade student from Holy Cross, Ryan McCarthy, said he learned that everyone is special in their own way.

"Meeting with Mater Dei kids is a good way to make friends. The handprints showed God made us in a special and unique way," he said.

Bailey Lofflin, a fourth grade student at Sacred Heart, said the retreat was good because it gave them a change to get to know others better - to get to know each other's cultures and share ideas about God. It also allowed everyone to be included.

Seth Raders, another Sacred Heart fourth grader, said the retreat taught them to think about others and what they could be proud of in themselves.

"Getting to know everyone was pretty fun," he said.

Andrew Mumm, a fourth grade student at Sacred Heart, said that in the small groups they spoke about what made each person special.

"I also learned that you can get through hard times if other people help you through," he said.

Caitlin Cain, a fifth grade student at St. Patrick School in Sheldon, said, "It was something I've never done before and I thought it was exciting to meet new people. We did fun, interesting things I'd never think to do and it was a great experience."

Eighth grade students from St. Patrick's - Alexis Bart, Kori Kruger, Rachel Cain, Spencer Tischer, Dakota Boerhave - wrote this reaction to the retreat: "We really enjoyed the LIF team. They had a great performance and there were many activities we enjoyed including: Building a human bridge, putting our handprints on posters, sharing what we thought was special about ourselves, and learning more about our faith. It was also fun to eat lunch with them and talk about our faith. It was definitely a great morning and it made our faith stronger."

"Julie Tebbe and the Mater Dei students came in so enthusiastic and got the children involved right away. Through the bridge building activity, they learned they had to have teamwork and trust," said Mary Jayne Mousel, head teacher at Holy Cross. "They learned that God has given them many gifts and has a special plan for each one of them. The witness talks were excellent. It was very moving to see middle school students get up in front of other students and talk about their faith and how God has been a part of their lives."

As the retreats drew to a close, the posters containing the handprints were paraded in front of the group of students. Then, they had a beachball party - with balls thrown about the gymnasiums. The students were reminded that their fingerprints were added to the balls that contained fingerprints of students from all four schools.

The retreat ended with prayer where students prayed for others - including teachers, principals and priests - and for themselves.