Youth Gathers to Encounter 2007

The final cluster of senior high students gathered at Shore High School on 24th of October 2007where students from Muslim, Christian and Jewish backgrounds met to share their experiences of being an Australian with dual identity - being an Australian with a spiritual identity. The commitment of all the stakeholders for the fourth year has shown that this is a valuable ongoing program and not simply a fad.

This year, due to the growth of schools involved in this project, there were
2 main clusters involving 180 students across the three faith traditions.

The final gathering, opened with a welcome note at the main hall of this beautiful high school followed by a tour of the school in the number of workshops that were organised.

Each workshop had about 18-20 students with an adult facilitator at each workshop. The theme revolved around 'My faith & My Identity' and discussions & activities ranged from defining and establishing identity to belonging in a community and then to the bigger community - Australia.

With two major sessions and lunch, the program involved a colourful arrangement of Jewish, Christian & Muslim stalls displaying their respective artefacts & religious & cultural symbols.

Each faith presented a brief account of their experience as the concluding remarks through the voice of students all echoing how they were 'so excited and engaged' and thankful for the 'awesome experience & opportunity provided'.

Hopefully a taste of dialogue made the youth participants cherish the concept and we are optimistic that it will continue in their adult years. As always, the organisers are wrapped around making this project even better for next year - with chances of even higher numbers of involvement!