The ACT Camp was held in May 2017 and focused on climate justice and the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender. Students from across Townsville participated in reviews of life, games, and discussions around Christian social teachings and the climate crisis. Following the camp, YCS members partnered with Amnesty International to hold an interactive stall at the EcoFiesta event about climate refugees and environmental injustice. The camp and resulting action embodied YCS's student-led spirit.
2. 0 3 W O R K E R ' S W O R D S
L O C A L L E V E L
0 4 R Y A N C A T H O L I C C O L L E G E
0 5 G I L R O Y S A N T A M A R I A C O L L E G E
0 6 S T M A R G A R E T M A R Y ' S C O L L E G E
0 7 C O M M U N I T Y G R O U P
D I O C E S A N L E V E L
0 8 C A M P A I G N R E V I E W : A C T ! C A M P
1 0 E C O F I E S T A
1 0 A D U L T T R A I N I N G
1 1 2 4 H O U R S O F T H E L O R D & P A L M S U N D A Y W A L K F O R
R E F U G E E S
1 1 O P E N N E W H O R I Z O N S Y O U T H R E T R E A T
1 1 N E W D I O C E S A N A D U L T A S S I S T A N T
1 2 F I G H T I N G F O R C L I M A T E J U S T I C E
N A T I O N A L L E V E L
1 4 N A T I O N A L C O N F E R E N C E P R E P A R A T I O N S
1 5 J U L Y E X E C
1 6 C A T H O L I C M I S S I O N C O N F E R E N C E
1 7 U P C O M I N G E V E N T S
What's in
this Newsletter:
2
3. Worker's Words
Wow! I can’t believe the year is almost over
already! YCS in Townsville truly ran non stop
with so many fun and exciting activities
throughout the year. Being my third year as a
YCS worker, this has been one of my favourite
years in the student-run movement. I
thoroughly enjoyed assisting the students
with their ambitions and dreams, not just for
their local movement, but for the various
social justice issues they passionately care
about.
The students this year went above and
beyond, showing true dedication to their
ideas and aims. I have witnessed many new
leaders emerge as we learnt to share the load
on the Diocesan level through delegating
events and actions to various different leaders.
This method has been effective in expanding
our capacity and student leadership, while
maintaining our student energy. Additionally,
this coordination provided me with the
opportunity to work one-on-one with so
many talented students.
Our unique local groups experienced the ups
and downs which naturally comes with new
leaders, reviews and methods. Some local
group leaders experienced great handover
from the senior students, while some
experienced new training from me. Some
local groups attempted and reviewed new
actions and methods to bring about the
Kingdom of God in their communities. More
importantly, new opportunities to expand
conversations about faith emerged with our
focus on Laudato Si throughout our
engagement on the National YCS Campaign:
Climate Justice. The students should feel very
proud of the challenges they overcame and
the reviews they have accomplished!
This newsletter only shows the main highlights
throughout the year, despite being very long! It
just proves that so much happened in such a
short span of time (it was so hard for me to catch
up!). My personal favourite from the year was the
Climate Justice Event which Tom McNeale
organised – make sure you check out that story
in this newsletter! This year, YCS also interacted
with more likeminded organizations such as
Catholic Mission, Amnesty International, and St
Vincent de Paul Youth which provide more new
and exciting opportunities!
As the year comes to a close, I would like to
personally thank all of our students for your hard
work, time, and effort which you have provided
YCS this year. I hope you continue to feel fulfilled
in your movement, and develop your leadership
skills and faith formation. I would also like to
congratulate the many YCS seniors graduating
this year, with a shout out to Brendan Hill, Eloise
McNeale, Ethan Mendiolea, Annika Brice, and
Keira Chapman for their extra involvement and
responsibilities on diocesan and national levels. I
has been an absolute pleasure to witness your
transformation throughout the years, and I have
no doubt you all will have a bright future
changing the world!
Another thank you to our Adults Support Team
and our Adult Assistants. Thanks for supporting
the students with the strong examples you
inspire. Thank you for your patience, generosity,
and humble natures. I would personally like to
say a thank you and goodbye to my supervisor,
Paula La Roza, who has worked with the
numerous Townsville YCS workers since 2009.
Paula has been there for me throughout my
employment and I am so grateful for her insight
and interest into my work.
Without further ado, it is time for the students to
show off what they achieved this year. Enjoy!
W H A T A Y E A R !
M A I G A N H A Y W A R D
T O W N S V I L L E Y C S
C O O R D I N A T O R 2 0 1 5 - 2 0 1 7
3
4. Ryan Catholic College
In 2017, YCS at Ryan have developed a caring
family that are compelled to address and solve
issues that regard students of our school. We have a
new set of leaders, and are committed to growing
the YCS family. The year started off with our annual
recruitment drive and we received tremendous
support from plenty of high schoolers.
In the first semester we focused on relieving school
stress however, due to our busy schedules
and timing restraints, we had to complete our action
in semester two to ensure its effectiveness. We
hosted a fun stress free afternoon for our seniors
during their exam week which consisted of ping-
pong, yoga, music, and of course a free BBQ.
In term 4, we started off with a bang, holding our
annual Multicultural Day. We organised a
multicultural food market with various dishes from
various countries. This is how things have been
going at Ryan and we are very keen to learn what
the future has in store. Thank you to our Adult
Assistant, Anita Livingston for all that you have done
for us throughout the year.
Roshan Stephen (Yr 11)
Ryan Key Leader
4
5. Gilroy Santa Maria College
On the 22nd May, the Refresher Team (led Isla Buchanan, Yr 11, RCC) spent the day training
leaders and members of the Gilroy Santa Maria College YCS group. The Gilroy students did a
fantastic job in participating, preparing, and leading a full See, Judge, Act on safety at school.
The group identified that there was an issue occurring in a certain area of the school with regards
to play equipment being used inappropriately and dangerously. The group researched the issue
and then as part of the action, approached key members of the school to propose solutions to
the issue. This issue was addressed on assemblies and as a result of that, extra supervision of
the affected areas was put in place by the school. A great result for the group!
We have also been reviewing the difficulties
associated with people sharing details from other
people’s personal lives without permission. There
can be an issue when secrets are shared as it can
quickly lead to rumours, causing difficulties with
friendships. In order to raise awareness and
encourage people not to spread rumours, the Gilroy
YCS group have constructed posters which will be
hung around the school to encourage others to be
‘secret safe’. While reviewing various issues
throughout the year, our group also helped sell icy
cups at school to assist us in our fundraising
initiatives.
We would like to thank our Adult Assistant, Sarah
Dunn, for her continuous patience and care for our
group. We will also like to congratulate her on her
pregnancy as she goes on maternity leave next
semester! We shall miss you!
5
6. St Margaret Mary's College
Semester one at SMMC saw our local group come together to empower the women of the SMMC
community. We investigated gender equality and our main focus was to spread awareness of the impact of
inequality, and to empower people to challenge attitudes that allow these inequalities to persist. In the last
week of Term 2 a group of students from various year levels in the College gathered in the Multipurpose
Shed to test their knowledge, battling it out in a Kahoot (a tool used to make a multiple choice quizes). The
YCS students developed questions which ranged from the gender pay gap, women living in poverty and
what gender equality truly means. Despite the unfortunate and serious issue that the event aimed to
address, lots of laughs and smiles were shared on the day. All YCS members at SMMC who helped
plan the event agreed that they learnt not only information about the issue, but also improved their
teamwork and leadership skills. Our local group now knows that we are truly capable of leading another
action in 2018 and are looking forward to it. We would also like to thank Miss O’Connell for assisting us in
putting this event together and any other staff at the college who helped.
Aleisha Knack (Yr 9), SMMC Key Leader
Climate change is the greatest threat our world faces. Inspired by the Climate Justice event hosted by
Townsville YCS earlier this term, the SMMC girls have taken action against climate change. After
hearing worrying facts, such as the amount of C02 produced by the textiles industry (19.8 tonnes in the US
alone), or the fact that the textiles industry is the largest consumer for water in the world, the SMMC local
group members decided to host a Clothes Swap that would encourage girls to swap their clothes and
accessories instead of just throwing them in the trash.
We received overwhelming support by the school community and over 300 items of clothing were donated
from staff and students, some of which still had tags on it! The hours of collecting, sorting and organising the
clothing paid off and on the 10th of November the Flexible Learning Area was buzzing with music, fun and
some eager clothes swappers. Our YCS members not only helped set up our pre-loved clothes shop, but
were on hand to assist with styling and other fashion advice. No one walked away empty handed.
The event involved a lot of planning and teamwork but all members were more than happy to play their part.
The clothes that weren’t swapped were donated to St Vincent De Paul to be further recycled. We would like
to thank the local group members for all their hard work in completing this action. We would also like to thank
Miss O’Connell for all of her hard work, not only for the clothes swap but throughout the year. We look
forward to future actions in 2018.
Aleisha Knack (Yr 9) and Albina Babao (Yr 10),
both SMMC Key Leaders
6
7. Community Group
The Community Group have explored three
reviews in the span of four months! The first
topic was on Mental Health in the light of a
recent youth suicide in our community. The
students identified that despite knowing about
the dangers of negative mental health, they
were not sure on how to assist their friends
who disclosed sensitive information to them.
Their action was to get more information, so
therefore they reached out to Headspace
Townsville. Dylan Howells, a youth worker
from Headspace, visited the community group
and spoke about the services Headspace
provides so that students can refer their peers
to such services if needed.
The Community’s second review was on
their newly formed YCS group. They reflected
on its progress in recruitment, the
effectiveness and engagement of meetings,
and other various elements of their YCS
experience. They also reflected on our
founder, Joseph Cardijn, and his story in order
to appreciate the formation of YCS. The group
resulted with various actions, such as new
recruitment strategies, clear planning for
meetings, and an end of year social to name a
few.
The group’s last review was on Animal Cruelty.
The students explored the meaning of “rule” or
“have dominion” over the earth (Genesis 1:28) in
relation to domestic animal cruelty. Students
acknowledged that in order to be responsible
owners, we need to care and love animals in the
same way God intended us to do so. After all,
God make us all in his likeness, and thus we all
have unconditional value. The YCS Community
group decided to organise a hamper full of cat
and dog food, treats and toys to donate to
Townsville's RSPCA in order to assist them in
their efforts to care for unwanted, abused, and
negated animals.
What a great effort for a new group! Thanks
Anna Anderson for acting as the Adult Assistant
for the Community Group. We are looking
forward to more great reviews in 2018.
7
9. DIOCESAN LEVEL
From heartfelt reviews to entertaining group
games and of course… a lot of food, the first
camp of this year (and third camp of our
Climate Justice campaign) had it all!
Passionate students from all over the
Townsville region came to attend the aptly
named “ACTvatar” Camp - a clever pun made
from the YCS review of life session and our
theme, Avatar: The Last Airbender (I know, we
were really scraping the bottom of the barrel
with this one). However, the questionable
name aside, this camp was one of my
favourite yet, one that I thoroughly enjoyed
organising and running.
My name is Ethan Mendiolea and I am the
Townsville YCS Chairperson and Camp
Coordinator for 2017, a title I have been
privileged to carry for the second year in a
row. On the 12-13th of May 2017, Townsville
Young Christian Students held the third
camp of our Climate Justice campaign, the
ACT camp. It was an enjoyable camp for all,
with members ranging from Year 7 all the
way to Year 12. Some students experienced
personal Reviews of Life’s - one of the core
tenets of the YCS movement - for the first
time, enriching their knowledge about the
outside world whilst also sharing their
opinions with other like-minded students. In
between enthralling discussions and integral
learning of Christian Social Teachings present
in the Review of Life, there were many
opportunities for the students to express
themselves through icebreaker games and
social activities. Attendees renewed
friendships and met other fantastic students
like themselves. It was a fantastic
environment to run the camp, and as
Chairperson, I thoroughly enjoyed every
moment of it.
At the end of camp, we as a YCS diocesan
movement formulated a service action, in
conjunction with Amnesty International
Townsvillle, which many students participated
in. Their commitment embodies the student-
run spirit that Young Christian Students is all
about. We hosted a stall at the local EcoFiesta
which you can read more about in the next
story of this newsletter.
I couldn’t be more thankful for the great team
of young leaders behind me, as this camp
(and the resulting action) would never have
eventuated as successfully as it did without
their help. Finally, I would like to say a huge
thanks to all of the adults that helped out,
especially Catherine Whittaker, Sarah Dunn,
Jason Hill, and our Townsville YCS Worker,
Maigan Hayward. Whether it be with
supervision, running sessions, cooking meals
or just with general organisation, all adult
volunteers worked tirelessly to make this
camp as successful as it was, and all students
are grateful for these efforts.
Now, I just can’t wait for the next camp, where
I will see all of you again!
Adios,
C A M P A I G N R E V I E W : A C T ! C A M P
E T H A N M E N D I O L E A ( Y R 1 2 ) ,
A C T C A M P C O O R D I N A T O R &
T O W N S V I L L E C H A I R P E R S O N
9
10. On Sunday the 4th of June, YCS members shared a stall at Townsville’s EcoFiesta, a free community event
on environment, sustainability, and all things eco-friendly. Alongside Amnesty International Townsville, the
YCS team was able to complete an action that was developed from their recent camp. The action was related
to the environmental injustice which impacts climate refugees. On the day, YCS ran an interactive setup
involving two demonstrations. The first demonstration encouraged members of the public to add ice to a kiddie
pool and small island based on their answers to 10 questions about their environmental habits. This
represented their contribution towards the rising sea levels in low lying areas. The second demonstration
involved a large board game based on a climate refugee's experience/ journey which we borrowed from
Amnesty International. Both of the activities engaged a lot of people from the Townsville Community, which
gave an excellent result for the action.
Aditi Puran (Yr 9), YCS EcoFiesta Organizer
E C O F I E S T A
A D U L T T R A I N I N G
This year’s adult training took the theme of John 10:10: I have come that they may have life, and have it to
the full. Our adults are key in order to provide students the opportunity to lead and develop as
Christian leaders however being adults in a student run movement, we realise that we are everything, yet
we are nothing at the same time. When the Lords asks, “Whom shall I send?” (Isaiah 6:8) our adults reply
“I’ll go. Send me!” through signing up to this challenging yet worthwhile role in the YCS movement. In being
Christ-like, our adults come so that our students may have life in abundance through experiencing and
forming skills in YCS.
All of our Adult Assistants gathered on the 21st of July to reflect on this theme as they participated in various
trainings and formations. Marg Trevethan from the House of Prayer facilitated the opening reflections on
personal fulfilment and gratefulness as we see our roles as not burdens, but instead, enriching and life
giving to ourselves and for others. Following from that, we discussed the keys to forming Christian leaders,
child protection, and personal ROL’s. For the first time, we invited current YCS students to play a mock
leaders and local group meeting with and without an adult present to highlight the importance of our adult
assistants in achieving deep and meaningful Review of Life’s. This training was approved by Catholic
Education Office for 3 hours of Personal Development for our teachers.
Thank you all for coming! And a special thank you to Rita Girgenti (House of Prayer) for hosting a beautiful
morning tea for us.
10
11. Roughly 50 young people from across the Townsville
Diocese gathered for the Open New Horizon’s Youth
Retreat in order to prepare for the Australian Catholic
Youth Festival, develop personal understanding of their
faith, and set the vision for the year of youth next year.
The program was developed by Sarah Dixon on behalf of
St Vincent De Paul Youth, Helen Melarekere from Holy
Spirit Parish, and Maigan Hayward from Young Christian
Students. Targeted at young adults, the retreat was
engaging for youth, all at varying levels of faith. Highlights
from the event can include Sr Mel Dwyer’s storytelling
and question session and the visioning session for the
year of youth. This retreat provided the opportunity to
meet other young Catholics in the region, proving to be
key to engaging youth in the Youth Ministry's formation
and visioning. YCS remains present and relevant in
Youth Ministry discussions throughout our support and
engagement with such retreats.
O P E N N E W H O R I Z O N ' S
Y O U T H R E T R E A T
2 4 H O U R S F O R T H E L O R D &
P A L M S U N D A Y W A L K F O R R E F U G E E S
On March 10th Townsville YCS was offered the opportunity to host the Youth Hour in the Catholic
Diocese of Townsville’s 24 hours for the Lord at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. The event was
enriched with the theme; Welcoming the Stranger. Naturally, YCS utilised the opportunity to join
together with other youth to reflect on our faith in light of the recent refugee and asylum seeker
crisis in Australia – Australia’s biggest “strangers” of all. Coming together to place faith into action
is a strong way in which we experience faith, and in doing so, Townsville youth were able to see
“strangers” as “neighbours” as they worked together to paint a refugee banner. YCS then held the
banner proudly as we participated in the Palm Sunday Walk for Refugees on the 9th of April.
11
We would like to congratulate and welcome Peter
Cavalot to the Townsville YCS Movement as the
Diocesan Adult Assistant. Peter is a year six
teacher at Marian Catholic School in Currajong,
Townsville and is a new adult to the movement.
Peter is a father of three children, all of which
experienced YCS in some form while in high
school, while one of his daughters, Zara Cavalot,
is the current Australian YCS Coordinator since
February last year. We are very lucky to have
such a caring and enthusiastic teacher who
understands the YCS movement. Peter will be a
great asset in supporting our Diocesan students.
N E W D I O C E S A N A D U L T
A S S I S T A N T
12. Running and organising the Fighting for Climate Justice Event was fantastic! After a whole year of planning,
it all added up in the end to be a success. The coordinating the event really showed me what it was like to be a
true leader, gaining multiple leadership skills such as communication, organisation and teamwork along the
way. It was amazing to see how much the students enjoyed our event and how much they took away from
the activities and guest speakers on the day. We received a lot of positive feedback and all the students
enjoyed it! It was just brilliant to see that all of the hard work that was put into the event was worthwhile
because it turned out to be a fun, successful, inspiring and educational event which was enjoyed by all
students
T O M M C N E A L E ( Y R 1 0 ) ,
C L I M A T E J U S T I C E E V E N T C O O R D I N A T O R
12
13. Fighting for
Climate Justice
On the 11th October, YCS hosted an
amazing action-based workshop on
Climate Justice! All Catholic Schools in
the Townsville Diocese were invited to
attend the student-led See, Judge, Act
event, which resulted to 26 students and
3 teachers from Ryan Catholic College,
St Margaret Mary’s College, and
Southern Cross Catholic College.
Participants learnt about climate
change, judged the consequences with
their faith, and took personal and
collective pledges to strive for justice for
our world and victims of climate change.
Additionally the event also included
fantastic speakers, such as Paul Lucas
(who spoke about Pope Francis’s
Laudato Si), Dylan Furnell, and Sr
Marian Firth (who spoke about their
personal experience witnessing the
impacts of climate change).
YCS also invited guests from various
organisations, such as St Vincent de
Paul, Catholic Mission, Caritas
Australia, and Amnesty International
who provided examples of practical
personal actions and collective school
actions which students took on board.
The day was a great opportunity to meet
like-minded students while coming
together to tackle the world’s greatest
environmental and humanitarian issue!
A big shout out to Tom McNeale (Yr 10,
RCC) for his hard work and dedication
who brought this student initiative to life,
and to Albina Babao for assisting with the
running of the day! Thanks to our
Worker, Maigan Hayward, for
your behind the scenes work, and Jason
Hill for your assistance with all things
media and digital. Lastly, we would also
like to thank Most Rev. Bishop Tim, Ernie
Christie (Townsville Catholic Education
Office), and Ryan Catholic College for
believing in the students and helping us
make it happen!
Check out our Climate Justice Website
(www.climatejustice.aycs.org.au) to see
all of our resources, photos, actions, and
anything related to the
Fighting for Climate Justice Event!
13
14. NATIONAL LEVEL
National Conference Preparation
Under the guidance of Annika Brice (Yr 12, SMMC), Townsville YCS has been working
hard to fundraise and prepare nine delegates (and one worker) for the Australian YCS
National Conference in Perth, January 2018. Hosting various bake sales, writing letters,
selling chocolates, and hosting a cent sale, Townsville YCS successfully raised $4,198.96
over the year to put towards the trip! This should cover our flights, leaving registration
costs to the students attending. We would like to thank the Good Shepherd (Kirwan and
Rasmussen), Holy Family (Gulliver), and Mary MacKillop (Mundingburra) Parishes, and
St Margaret Mary’s College for their generous contributions. We would also like to thank
all our YCS members, families and adults who assisted us in our fundraising plans. The
students appreciate your effort, time, and donations!
The Townsville team met for the first time on the 7th of October at Mini Golf Townsville
for their first Prep Session. They have plans to meet again on Saturday 25th of November
and the 5th of January for their second and third prep sessions before they go to
represent Townsville YCS. We wish them luck and safe travels!
If you or your organisation would like to donate funds towards the students’ trip, please
email maigan.hayward@aycs.org.au.
14
15. July Executive Conference
In July, a group of students from all around
Australia gathered for the YCS executive
meeting. Held in Melbourne from the 2nd to the
8th of July members from all of the dioceses
around Australia set out to review the past 6
months of the movement and plan the next 6
months of the national campaign - Climate
Justice. Townsville sent two members who both
thoroughly enjoyed the week full of fun sessions.
The students at the meeting decided that to
ensure the best possible outcome for the
movement and the campaign, it was important
to review and change the existing structure on a
national level. The week began with formation
sessions and sessions that built the students'
understanding of the movement through
diocesan reports and reviews. Towards the end
of the week, voting for national changes and
planning for the National Conference in
January 2018 (where delegates from around
Australia will have the chance to shape and
plan the next two year campaign) took place.
The movement now has both a National
Chairperson (Brendan Hill from Townsville) and a
National Campaign Chairperson (Cait Whelan from
Melbourne) to ensure that all areas of the
movement and the campaign are on track.
To guarantee that our promotion is student run and
effective our Social Media Co-ordinator (Isaac
Turner from Adelaide) was re-elected. There will
also be a climate justice immersion trip happening
in WA late this year, this will be planned by the
students and the National Immersion Student Co-
ordinator (Eloise McNeale from Townsville). In
other exciting news, Adelaide has now been
officially voted as a national member movement
giving them a vote in all national decisions. The
week was not only a great opportunity to review
the movement and enable change but meet have a
great time running sessions and meeting new like-
minded people.
Check out the video from the week
https://www.facebook.com/australianycs/vi
deos/1199007530203617/
Brendan Hill (Yr 12),
Townsville Executive
15
16. Catholic Mission Conference
In June this year, Townsville student Eloise McNeale
attended the Catholic Mission and Religious
Australia's "One heart many voices" conference in
Sydney on behalf of Australian YCS. The conference
is led by Catholic leaders from all over Australia who
come together biennially to envision the direction of
the church for the next 2 years.
"The conference was an amazing experience. I was
lucky enough to run a session on the effectiveness of
YCS' See, Judge, Act method. We had a really great
attendance and had an interesting conversation
about youth involvement in the church. It was very
empowering to have people 30 and 40 years older than
me interested in my work in YCS and my beliefs
surrounding the Church and its future direction.
Over the 3 days I attended a wide range of sessions
from Indigenous spirituality to human trafficking and
religious art making. I was lucky enough to meet and
chat with Catholic leaders from across Australia and
learn about my faith in a different way.
I am more than grateful to Catholic Mission for the
opportunity and all of the support they provided in
getting to the conference. It was a really insightful
and inspiring conference and I can't wait to bring
back all of my new knowledge to the YCS movement."
Eloise McNeale (Yr 12)
Townsville Executive
16
17. Upcoming Events
Have your say in the future of
Australian YCS!
We invite you all to read the
Discussion Paper (contact
zara.cavalot@aycs.org.au for a copy)
and give feedback either via the link
at the end of the document or by
engaging in conversations with
Devett Kennedy (0467 563 796). This
survey will close on the 5th of
December at 5pm AWST. This survey
is designed to be completed
individually.
End of Year Christmas Social
17
18. Based on the teachings of Joseph Cardijn, Young Christian Students (YCS)
is an international movement that empowers high school students to take
faith based action on social injustice. The movement is organized with, by,
and for high school students through using the “See, Judge, Act!” method -
or what we call "Review of Life". YCS aims to form and develop lifelong
Christian leaders who actively live out their faith through actually
experiencing what it is like to manage and organise a social justice
movement on local, diocesan and national levels.
Visit aycs.org.au or Townsville YCS on Facebook for more information.
What is YCS?
SEE JUDGE ACT
270 Stanley Street, Townsville City, QLD 4810
PO Box 6149
maigan.hayward@aycs.org.au
0424 758 004
Facebook: Maigan Hayward Aycs
Never Underestimate the Students!
If you have any inquiries or feedback about Townsville YCS or
you would like to start your very own YCS group in your school or
parish, please feel welcomed to contact the Townsville YCS
Coordinator. Contact details are below.
Maigan Hayward
Townsville YCS Coordinator