“Are you kidding? What’s Stupidville?” After her initial confusion learning about Steubenville conferences, youth minister Carolyn Anch decided to take a group of about 12 teens with her. Thirteen years later, that group of 12 has grown to 124 and the youth group has become a family.
Without youth ministers, Steubenville wouldn’t be possible. They are the ones to continue the work when everyone goes home on Sunday and the ones who have been doing prep work for months leading up to the conference. Carolyn is one of those rockstar youth ministers.
There isn’t just one thing that keeps Carolyn coming back from year to year. One of her favorite parts of Steubenville is after Saturday night Adoration. She gathers her parish behind the arena at the end of the night to allow teens to give their testimonies about what they experienced. Carolyn says that night is a taste of “Heaven on earth.” It is a time for their parish to share “tears, laughter, and love.”
That laughter doesn’t just happen during that time of sharing. Carolyn is always up for a good practical joke, and her youth group is more than ready to play them. One of her funny Steubenville memories is from one such joke. The girls in her dorm called her to their suite because “there was some crazy guy” in the suite using their bathroom. It turned out that the “crazy guy” was one of the girls from the youth group in baggie sweats and a hoodie. Carolyn thought the joke was absolutely hilarious.
After a weekend full of laughter and joy, Carolyn loves the vocation call on Sunday morning. This year, their group has 4 seminarians with them, all of whom attended Steubenville during high school.
With so many fond memories of this weekend, it is no wonder that Carolyn calls Steubenville the “AH-HAH!” moment of a lifetime.
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