This past winter break, I attended a FOCUS conference called SEEK. FOCUS stands for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, and each year they hold a conference for young Catholic students to attend and learn more about their faith. This year, it was held in Indianapolis, Indiana. I also went to their conference last year in Chicago, Illinois, so I was excited to attend and hang out with my friends from Winona and around the country.
17,000 people attended this conference: college students, parish leaders, FOCUS missionaries, and lay people (people of the church). It was absolute chaos to try to reign everyone in, so each campus had their own flag that they would wave for their students to come find seats saved for them. Also, keeping 17,000 people from swarming the stage before a concert—which happened on the last night of the conference—needed a few more police officers than normal. My friend and I were at the front of the line for the concert and we got up to the third row from the barricade by the end of it.
One of my favorite speakers of the conference was Leah Darrow. Leah used to be on America’s Next Top Model, but she quit the modeling industry after the profession put her in situations that she felt were uncomfortable. She now travels around the country and speaks to people, mainly women, about finding love, beauty, and acceptance in God. I’d like to share some of the amazing quotes Leah told us during two of her talks I attended:
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“Refuse to let limitations become your identity.”
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“Life is hard on everyone. Grow up and move on.”
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“Life is not about competition; it’s about contribution.”
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[in response to Eve being created after Adam] “You are not an afterthought to fulfill the desires of men.”
SEEK2019 was an experience I will never forget. I bonded with people from Winona, met up with some old high school friends, and even made new friends—not just in the country, but from around the world. The speakers at this conference emphasized what we, as young Catholic people, need to do to fill our lives with joy and love. Leah filled my heart with joy and I now love to look at my life through the eyes of what she told me. I look for what I can help other people with, rather than what I can do better than them. I can’t wait to travel to Phoenix, Arizona, for next year’s conference and encounter something more!
Photo credit to @FOCUScatholic