A party with a purpose is what makes Young Life Club the best night of the week for thousands of kids in the beach area. Although others describe it as controlled chaos, Young Life Club is guaranteed to deliver one thing by the end of the night. God’s love.

Junior CJ Reed, who is new to Ocean Lakes, describes it as “a safe environment for people to come together to experience fellowship with one another.”

Young Life has affected at least 30 students at Ocean Lakes this year.

“Last year I was really isolated and wasn’t connected with many people in school. Young Life gave me an opportunity to make some friends at OL,”said sophomore Peter Hemphill.

New leader and area director, Mike Terranova, runs Young Life and takes any high school student who wants to come to club Monday nights.

Terranova encourages teens to “strive to reach the unreachable” and bring in people who wouldn’t normally come to Young Life.

“Young Life is a group of folks who want to establish good friendships, have tons of fun, laughter and adventures, and consider some of the deeper questions of life regarding meaning, purpose in life, and God- in a fun, friendly, non-pressured environment,” said Terranova.

Sophomore Dawson Weiss has attended club twice and said, “Young Life is a fun, friendly social environment, and because of it, I have become a more social and nicer person.”

At Young Life, students bond by listening to music, dancing, socializing, playing interactive games, and become closer together.

“Being a new student, I knew nobody other than the cross country team. Young Life was an opportunity for me to meet and build friendships with students at Ocean Lakes,” said CJ who moved from Northern Virginia, in August.

According to Terranova and the Young Life website, this summer, Young Life is planning on going to Lake Champion for some “mind-boggling” fun.

Peter describes Young Life as “an opportunity for people in the school to get to know each other and it carries all emotions.”