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Two summer youth interns named

By Melodie Woerman
Editor, The Harvest

Natalie Vanatta (top) and Christina Waggoner are spending the summer as youth interns for the diocese.

Diocesan Youth Coordinator Chad Senuta has announced that two college students will be serving as youth ministry interns with him this summer. They are Natalie Vanatta, a student at the University of Missouri- Kansas City; and Christina Waggoner, a student at the University of Kansas. Each has just completed her freshman year. They are members of St. Michael’s, Mission.

The women began serving in late May and will continue through early August. Both also have been active in the diocesan youth program and served as peer ministers, a position of leadership and service to other Kansas teens.

This marks the second year for the intern program, which is designed to give college students hands-on experience in the field of youth ministry.

Senuta said the two will be involved with summer youth programs, including three weeks of summer camp in June; MissionPalooza, a week of service to mission agencies in the Kansas City area in July; and Happening, a renewal we ekend for teenagers. They also will spend time with youth ministers in various parishes around the diocese to better understand the needs of youth in parish settings.

A great need
That need is great Senuta said, noting that three parishes in the Diocese of Kansas are looking for either full- or part-time youth ministers.

He said, “Not unlike priesthood, youth ministry is a vocation where we are in need of ‘more workers for the harvest field.’ I think one of the most vital parts of our ministry to young people is to raise up leaders and train them in how to minister to youth.”

He noted that last year’s intern, Katie Knoll, was hired in the fall by St. Thomas, Overland Park, to direct their youth program on a part-time basis while she still is in college.

Vanatta and Waggoner will receive a modest stipend for their work this summer, paid from funds in the diocesan youth budget and special grants from the parish foundations of St. James’, Wichita, and St. Michael’s, Mission.

Both women said they were excited to begin their work. Waggoner said after a trip to a “Pathways to Ministry” conference in Dallas, she has felt a call to serve in youth ministry. “I’m excited to know more about the ‘behind the scenes’ work that goes in with youth ministry,” she said.

Vanatta said she hopes to combine youth ministry with a career as a middle school or high school teacher. She said she hopes through her work this summer to help teens grow as leaders and continue to explore their own faith.