It has come to light that a major problem plaguing youth groups around the country is what happens to their high school seniors after their first year at college.  Most of the time, their involvement with youth groups dead ends after their initial enrollment in school as they get easily distracted by the prospect of easily meeting friends at parties.  It is this problem that has frustrated youth ministers for the past few years.  While they build up great youth members throughout their high school years, they are losing them again and again once they leave to college, and are stumped as to how to counteract this phenomenon.

A healthy foundation is always a key aspect to build before students leave for college.  While this foundation may not always counteract outside influences, it is important to build up good memories of youth ministry activities and events so as the student has these in their mind when they enroll in college.  It is additionally important to sit down with the students in order to plan out where they want to spiritually be in the twenty years and what steps they can take throughout the next four years in order to achieve these goals.  It is additionally important to talk to the parents of the students about their own spiritual goals so they can help in guiding their children around obstacles that may hinder their future goals.

It is additionally important to encourage students to meet others who share their same faiths once they arrive at college.  Hanging around with people who have dissimilar goals and interests can only lead to falling into a different crowd than they would normally have otherwise.  However, the transition to college is very hard for many students, and it is the prospect of making friends which is the most appealing part of going to parties and participating in behaviors they normally would not; this is why it is important to stress to them the need to find a youth group right away in order to have a strong foundation to turn to if they become overwhelmed with the differences of college life.  Building a Christian community and youth group is part of internalizing that community, and it is this fact which students may be too young to grasp when they first leave for college; it is the coming four years that begins to stress the importance of a community and a group of friends to lean on in tough times.

Internalization of Christian values and morals is something that youth members need to develop on their own, and cannot be given to them before they leave for college.  It is helpful if they have internalized these principles before they leave, but if they are headstrong about avoiding them in college, there is nothing we can do to counteract that, other than preparing future students for these types of decisions.  It is difficult in these times to preach to a youth congregation, full of students who are being bombarded by different viewpoints at all times; it is only through higher preparation for the future that we might be able to assist in keeping students on the right course throughout their college life.

This post was contributed by Ashley Brooks, who writes about the Christian online schools. She welcomes your feedback at AshleyBrooks234 at gmail.com

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