REPORT:COLLEGE STUDENT WEEKEND
October 30 – November 1, 2009
Louhelen Baha’i School
“The Five Year Plan on Campus + Baha’i Scholarship = How to Change the World!”
Presenters:
Martha Schweitz, Association for Baha’i Studies;
Gordon Naylor, Member, National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Canada;
Association for Baha’i Studies;
Marianne Geula, Member, Regional Baha’i Council, CentralStates
(Special guest presentation by Morris Taylor, Author, How to Create a Magical College Life)
Summary:
About 14 college age youth from the CentralStates and Canada participated in a weekend session designed to encourage youth participation in the Five Year Plan, and learn ways to prepare for both immediate and long-term service to the Cause.
Recommendation: Baha’i youth on college campuses are an invaluable resource for individual and collective teaching opportunities, and generating new experiential and scholastic learning. These populations need and merit the systematic investment of attention and resources from Baha’i institutions in order to maximize their immediate and long-term potential.
The presenters conveyed love and greetings from the Regional Baha’i Council of the CentralStates, the Association for Baha’i Studies, and the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada. During the orientation, participants expressed what prompted them to attend and what they hoped to get out of the session. Overwhelmingly, the students were seeking a respite and spiritual retreat from the demands of campus life and a desire to be among other Baha’is and absorb the “spiritual atmosphere” of a Baha’i gathering. Secondarily, they were seeking teaching activities which could be done with limited human resources, e.g., on campuses with only one declared Baha’i. Students were provided with pointers andencouraged to take care of all aspects of their health, and balance their lives.
The group studied and discussed excerpts from Messages from the Universal House of Justice about the capacity and potential of the individual (27 December 2005 letter; 2009 Ridvan Message), and excerpts from the Writings. Most of the group had completed one or more Ruhi books, and more than half were trained as tutors. Students shared their ideas and experiences in cultivating on-campus teaching opportunities among peers and their contacts at school, and articulated the unique opportunities and challenges characteristic of the collegiate environment. Strategic activity was encouraged at three levels: individually; with accompaniment of at least one other person on campus; and involving Baha’is from the broader, off-campus community.
Participants reviewed guidance from the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia relating to the development of the Yerrinbool Baha’i Center of Learning (4 January 2009 letter), and the importance of applying the teachings to identified human needs, particularly through the development and presentations of scholarly study of the Writings, and through the arts. Facilitators offered reports from conferences on coherence held in North America earlier this year, applied the concepts of coherence in Baha’i activity and contrasted new collaborative models of personal and community growth and development with prevalent, hierarchical patters that foster dependency. Additionally, participants received contact information for international education and training conducted by the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity based at the World Centre, and participated in a presentation given by the local representative on the Huququ’llah.
The weekend program allowed time for participants to work in small groups to creatively express what they had learned thus far, and to reflect upon their learnings among the natural beauty of the school environment, and with each other.
Saturday evening was performing arts night which offered a glimpse of the creativity and energy especially present among youth.
In closing out the weekend,participants suggested topics for future workshops, were encouraged to make action plans, and keep in touch with each other through e-mail and social networking.
(Submitted by Marianne Geula)
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