Being a youth leader of over 100 teenagers has proved to be a challenging experience. In 2010, I was named District Youth Coordinator (DYC) of my youth group of Bukas Loob sa Diyos (BLD). BLD has many different districts around the world and is a religious organization of families whose mission it is to do charity work through prayer and selflessness.
In the past year and a half as a DYC, I have gone through many difficult challenges that have strengthened me intellectually. My duties as a youth leader include scheduling and maintaining a highly organized calendar of events, handling the finances of the youth ministry, attending and keeping accurate minutes of monthly meetings with our adult coordinators, acting as a cathechist in religious education, and acting as a mentor to younger youth.
Through my experiences as a District Youth Coordinator, I needed to continually push my limits to grow into a better leader. I have strengthened myself through mastering the fundamentals of organization, public speaking, learning, and management. Although my role is primarily organizational, there have been a number of occasions where things occurred differently than planned. In an event that one of the other youth leaders would not fulfill their duties, I would have to step in and handle certain situations. I have learned to think quickly and improvise in a short amount of time and I have strengthened my leadership skills through my term as a DYC.
Having to organize an immense number of teens, ranging from the ages of 14-20, has assisted me in challenging any intellectual limits. I have had excellent opportunities that allowed me to think “outside the box” and strengthen myself as an individual.