high school

Big Brothers Big Sisters with a Jesus bent – that’s how Chris Handrick describes Young Life and Wyld Life, two local organizations focused on providing youth with mentorship and a Christian message.

Handrick is the Dane County metro director for the organizations, which includes Mount Horeb, Middleton, Verona and University of Wisconsin-Madison. A Mount Horeb Native and Edgewood College alumni, Handrick has been helping direct the Verona organizations since 2013.

“Young Life is a mentorship organization with a Christian message, it works to walk along students and introduce them to Jesus Christ,” he told the Press. “But we work hard to attract all kids of all backgrounds. They don’t have to believe. While we do have a Christian message that comes through – it’s a range of kids who believe or don’t believe. It’s ecumenical.”

The organizations got started in Texas in 1941 and have since spread to all 50 U.S. states and to around 110 countries, Handrick said. Wyld Life is for middle school students (seventh and eighth grades) and Young Life is for high school and college students.

Between the two orgs in Verona, there are 80 student members. The groups meet weekly at State Bank of Cross Plains, though alternating each week between the middle and high school groups.

On the week when an age group doesn’t meet, their mentors are encouraged to reach out and spend time with their mentees – especially the youths who don’t attend the meetings because they don’t like large groups. Mentors might attend their mentee’s sport matches or take them out for ice cream or coffee.

Research shows that youth need five mentors besides their parents for the healthiest overall growth, Handrick said. Those mentors can include school teachers or sport coaches, and the Young and Wyld life mentors hope to be part of that five, he said.

At this time, there are eight mentors for Young Life and seven for Wyld Life. When it comes to connecting with youth, Handrick stresses the importance of mentors “getting on their turf.”

Mentors have to earn the right to be heard, he said, and that’s why on the weeks they don’t meet in large groups, it’s important for them to reach out to their mentee to keep involved in their life.

“This organization is relationship-based, and as that relationship grows, the mentor is supposed to instigate asking about what their mentee enjoys,” Handrick said.

As their relationship grows, the youths tend to want to see their leader more and more, he said. In a fledgling relationship, a mentor might have to ask for their mentee’s sports schedule, but over time the mentees happily send their leaders their schedule, wanting them to attend.

For the most part, mentors are just meant to be a support system alongside a youth’s parents, Handrick said, and he estimates for 60-70% of kids the leaders are an addition to parents. Though, there are 30-40% of youths for whom a leader may be present when a parent is not.

“We’re not trying to replace parents,” Handrick said. “We want to fill a need.”

As a mentorship organization, there’s sometimes the misconception that the org is geared solely to youth at risk, but Handrick said it’s for all youth, regardless of if they are above or below the poverty line, and whether or not they come from a stable home.

“We don’t want to simplify, we want to represent our school district as best we can,” he said.

The Verona group draws in students from not only the Verona Area School District but also from Memorial High School, Madison West High School, Edgewood High School and the Mount Horeb and Oregon school districts.

Get the party started

The Monday night programming is referred to as “club” and offers a party-like atmosphere, Handrick said.

During the nine-month academic season, the two age groups meet every other week – switching off weeks. Club gatherings begin with music, socializing and eating pizza donated by Pizza Ranch.

The group plays team games or trivia, sometimes there’s group singing, and even dance lessons. The high school group have been learning line dances including a traditional Mexican one, The Hustle and Cotton-Eyed Joe.

There are raffles at every meeting for assorted prizes like candy and shirts.

Sometimes leaders even perform skits.

It finishes with a leader sharing a 10-minute personal story about how scripture or a Christian message relates to their own life. The group often then heads to Icki Sticki or Culver’s for ice cream.

“Club is geared around fun, energy, humor,” Handrick said. “We like to use humor and fun to tear down barriers.”

“It’s tons of energy and so much fun, it really helps kids relax and laugh,” parent Patty Bruni added. “It just kind of gives them a community of supportive people.”

Getting involved

Bruni has two sons who are involved in Young Life. One started when he was a high school freshman and is now a senior, the other joined in middle school and is now a freshman.

Because of her older son’s “phenomenal experience” with the group, Bruni joined the parent committee – a volunteer group who help support the group by organizing fundraisers, such as a trivia night coming up on April 24 at Hawks Landing Golf Club.

Bruni had never heard of the organization before her family moved to Verona in 2019 and her son got involved. Coming from a Catholic background, she said she was used to paying for activities or having to sign permission slips. So the free, drop-in nature of the Club meetings was a bit different for her.

But she came to appreciate what’s referred to as a “party with a purpose.”

“There are so many unhealthy, disparaging messages in the world – to me, Young Life helps counteract the negativity and gives them a positive, supportive place,” she said. “That’s where religion comes in, letting them know they’re valued, created, cared for and loved by God. But it’s not forced or stuffed down their throat.”

As teens aren’t expected to attend every week, the group is respectful of other commitments teens have, she said. And for kids who feel like their parents are no longer cool, a mentor can help fill a supporting role.

While Zoom meetings didn’t lend themselves to the format of the Club parties, the group tried to remain cohesive during the height of pandemic social distancing by offering some outdoor events such as kickball, disc golf and ultimate frisbee, while also hosting online homework help sessions.

“That was the hardest time for adding students,” Handrick said. “We focused on maintaining the students we knew.”

A big part of that was mentors going down the list of students to do check-in phone calls.

“During the pandemic when teens were on their own, Young Life stayed with them, walked with them, saying ‘We’re here and care,’” Bruni said. “It’s an incredible group of volunteers that pour themselves in. It would have been pretty easy for them to back away during the pandemic, but to watch the mentors not give up on it speaks to how much it means to them.”

The national Young Life organization owns approximately 20 resort-like properties around the country, with three in the Midwest including Timber Wolf Lake in Michigan and Castaway Club in Minnesota. Every summer – except for 2020 – groups of around 350 to 450 students and leaders descend on the camps each week.

There is also an annual backpacking trip to the Colorado mountains, which was the only excursion offered in 2020.

It was that life-changing hiking trip experience Bruni’s son attended in 2019 that inspired her to join the parent committee.

“He came back and said, ‘I learned more about God in one week than I had in all of Catholic school’,” she said.

Because of their close relationship with youth, mentors are heavily vetted, Handrick said. There is a six-week hands-on training process, two character references are required, there’s a background check, and there is also a driver certification training.

“We definitely have a long onboarding process for volunteers,” Handrick said.

As the group provides a $30 per mentee stipend a month to help mentors cover grabbing ice cream or coffee, the group does a lot of fundraising.

The group hosts two big fundraisers a year – a trivia night and a golf outing. The last in-person fundraiser was held in February 2020.

The parent committee tries to help fill gaps as needed, making meals or buying gas cards for mentors.

And the mentors help fill gaps for parents.

“My husband and I were able to attend most of our son’s ball games, but when he saw his mentor come to games, our son’s face would light up, it was an amazing and magical thing,” Bruni said. “We try to walk with kids the best we can, but we’re not cool. Mentors help reinforce things like ‘you are going to be okay, you’re worthwhile.’ It means so much to kids to have another adult who cares — they just need to know another adult cares for them and respects them. Young Life isn’t about religion, there are a lot of different religions that are here – it’s just a group that loves kids.”