Attending the DYC gave me a few things to think about for lent this year. I participated in the
games in the beginning which were fun. (I secretly hoped to win). I listened to the guest
speaker Chris who spoke of his experiences and how that made him seek God. The mass by
the Bishop was beautiful. It asked me to listen to God and think about what he is trying to
say...to really listen. The main reflection was this, “What do you have that is blocking you from
Jesus?” It also asked me to find ways to search for Jesus a little more. I thought this was a
meaningful afternoon and it was more fun than I expected. I enjoyed the experience. ~ Lauren
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The Diocesan Youth Conference (DYC) is a yearly gathering for young people of the Diocese of Trenton. Teens are able to encounter Jesus through their Catholic Faith.  This year due to the coronavirus pandemic the conference was virtual.  The most impactful part of the program to me was the keynote discussion led by Chris Padgett. I enjoyed hearing about how he grew up in the country in the 70s, how things were so different back then.  He spent his time with his friends fishing, camping and would be outside all day all summer long. It was interesting to hear how he was so different from his twin friends Brad and Brian and through his friendship with them he learned that it is important to have your own identity, that each person is unique in their own ways.

He explained how when he was young his life came to a screeching halt when his dad unexpectedly told him he was leaving his mom.  He did not expect this to happen when it did and he learned how even in the best of times, others can impact your life tremendously and you have to learn to live with this.  He explained this is similar to how many of us were living our best lives last spring before the pandemic hit and we all were stopped in our tracks.  I can relate to this as I am part of a competitive swim team and last year our season was cut short by 3 weeks due to the pandemic.  We were unable to finish out the year and swim in our final championships.  These difficult times have made me a stronger person.  Sometimes things are out of our control and you have to be a strong person and pray and believe things will get better.   ~ Emily G.
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This is from Ryan W and Brett D. We attendended the DYC.
We enjoyed seeing you in the introductions.

Here is our summary of the DYC event:
To begin with, we played a lot of trivia challenges, which were fun.
Then we listened to Chris talk about his life and how ours lives too can relate to the Bible.
Then we heard Bishop O’Connell say Mass.  Our favorite quote from Bishop O’Connell was when he said
"Your worst day with God is still always better than someone’s best day without God"
We also enjoyed the Christian band.  To wrap up the event the host gave out some T-Shirts and prizes.

Thanks for sharing the information about the DYC
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The experience was interesting and fun.  The first half of the program was focused on things that you were searching for while using games.
The point of the games was for us to look for God and to be with him.  The second half of the program had a guest speaker.  The guest speaker talked about letting you be you.  The talk had me thinking about my life, about my family, and how we include God in our lives.  We also watched a prayer service about how God loves us and how we should never stop looking for him.  Overall, it was a very meaningful and wonderful experience.  ~ Julianna S.
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