1. NEWSLETTER NO. 1 25TH
FEBRUARY 2016
Dear All,
A very belated warm welcome to 2016. By now most schools are approaching the half way
mark into term one already. This is the first of the many weekly newsletters that will be
emailed out to YCS members, workers, supporters and alumni. I am very excited to use this
platform to communicate with you all about the exciting things that Australian YCS will be
doing in 2016. This issue will cover the new national executive, last month’s national
conference finally news and actions from all over the nation.
First and foremost, I would like to introduce myself, my name is Zara Cavalot and am the new
national coordinator. I am based in Townsville and have lived here for the large majority of my
life, I was a local group member at my high school, St Margaret Mary’s College, for three years
and in 2014 I participated nationally as the Deputy Executive Representative for Townsville and
was the National Chairperson also in that year. This is my fifth year in the movement. My
incredible student experiences with YCS on a local, diocesan and national level is my
inspiration in assisting to develop young people, as the adults and workers did for me. You can
find me on Facebook @Zara Cavalot AYCS. I’d also like to introduce the newly employed
campaign workers; Hannah Stavrou from Adelaide and Annie Purbrick from Perth. We will all
work directly with the national executive team. But enough about us, YCS is about the students
and to never underestimate their capabilities as young people.
Zara, 18.
Hannah, 20. Annie, 18.

2. New National Executive Team
The National Executive Team is a team of students from all over Australia who are some of the
key leaders in their local YCS groups. They are kind enough to put up their hands and
contribute to YCS on a national level. A few things they do are: help coordinate the national
campaign, create resources, supervise workers, communicate to and from diocesan and
national levels and a whole lot more. The end of 2015 saw four of the national executive team
members graduate from high school and thus wrap up their student involvement in YCS. Good
luck and thank you to:
Christy Forrest (Townsville)
Jess Russel (Melbourne)
Harry Stavrou (Pt Pirie)
Tahlia Sully (Adelaide).
However at the National Conference in January, nine new students were elected to join three
three remaining students on the national executive team. It is my pleasure to introduce the
national executive team of 2016;
Townsville:
- Eloise McNeale, yr 11
- Brendan Hill, yr 11
Parramatta:
- Hayden Gerrie, yr 11
- Alex Zierholz , yr 11
Adelaide:
- Faith Kongwa, yr 12
Melbourne:
- Patrick Lochal, yr 9
- Monica Popovic, yr 10
- Monica
Port Pirie:
- Tessa rose, yr 12
- Miriam Santic, yr 10
Perth:
- Spencer Woods, yr 11
- Isobella McPherson, yr 10

3. National Conference
The biennial National Conference (NatCon) was held in Melbourne last month. Conference Coordinator,
Jess Russell from the Rosanna Parish group, is to be commended on the success of the week with a
turnout of 39 representing all the dioceses that YCS is present. The 2016-2018 national campaign was
voted on after a long yet passionate debate and will be announced at a later date. The students have
only positive feedback from the seven day experience;
“NATCON empowered me to empower others. The amazing sessions that were run and friends I met
there, helped me to grow so much more passionate about our movement, social justice and as a
person. The experience was truly life changing and I recommend it to anyone who’s fervent about
standing up to injustice and seeking positive change in our world, or even making friendships to last a
lifetime.” – Amelia, Ursula Frayne Catholic College, Perth.
“My time at NATCON truly was some of the best moments of my life. The people, the energy and the
food were all amazing. The ideas that were brought forward simply blew my mind and until then I didn't
fully understand what Y.C.S was capable off. I discovered that students and youth have an incredibly
loud voice in shaping the world around us, Y.C.S, especially in larger numbers” – Patrick, Rosanna
Parish group, Melbourne.
“I came to Natcon not even knowing we had a mission, however leaving Natcon I feel I can now teach
and live out the mission of YCS with fellow students at SMMC. Formal Night was by far my favourite
part of Natcon, just seeing everyone sweating and singing their hearts out was such a sweaty, enjoyable
experience. I would recommend anyone part of YCS no matter how long you’ve been a member to
attend Natcon because you make worthwhile friendships, you also really learn a thorough amount of
knowledge and overall you become a much more confident person in voicing opinions into discussions
and debates.” – Keira, St Margaret Mary’s College, Townsville
“National Conference offered me the amazing opportunity to guide and support other like-minded
students in their journey of faith and leadership formation. The whole event was such a fulfilling
experience; Young Christian Students creates such a positive community, one filled with passion and
love for the common good. An experience such as NatCon is exactly what each and every high school
student needs; it is an opportunity for the development of personal faith and leadership skills, and
creates an unbreakable sense of community and collective mission in such an exciting, enjoyable and
engaging way.” – Spencer, Ursula Frayne Catholic College, Perth.
“The Australian National conference was an experience of a lifetime. The amount of people who came
showed that our movement has really grown and developed. The atmosphere of the conference was
enjoyable but also very educational by all the session that were run. I would go again if I had the
chance.” – Hayden, Parramatta

4. Local Actions & News
So much has happened already since school started for YCS. In Townsville, the NatCon
delegates from Ryan Catholic College, Eloise McNeale, Brendan Hill and Ethan Mendiolea,
were asked to speak to the year 10, 11 and 12 cohorts at their school regarding YCS and their
NatCon experience. Sounds like a really empowering and challenging experience to address
three massive cohort, kudos to RCC. Also regarding Townsville, lots of exciting news with the
possibility of two new local groups! Watch this space for more on this epic news.
Diocesan Actions & News
Townsville and Perth have also had their planning days in which they look at what they gained
and learned from NatCon and how they can implement this into their diocese. These days are a
great way that the local groups in the diocese stay connected after the hype of NatCon.
Melbourne are currently in the process of employing a diocesan worker. Students alongside
their diocesan Adult Support Team will meet on Sunday to develop a role description before
advertising the role followed by holding interviews – panelled by the students themselves.
National Actions & News
With a large new national executive team and three new national workers, time is being taken
to ensure that we start things on the right foot. I have been working with Spencer, Hayden and
Eloise to create an agenda for our first monthly call for the year which will be this Friday
evening. Out of this meeting we would have voted on a National Chairperson, Campaign
Chairperson, and an official title, slogan and logo for the national campaign.
This campaign was voted on at NatCon, ‘twas brought about by looking at the student realities
and the big issues the students felt needed to be addressed. Many shortlists were made and
many debates were had, with finalists including sexism, islamophobia and issues around the
environment. The room oozed with passion as everyone wanted to give their opinions and
have their say. I’ll leave it until next week to formally announce the 2016-2018 campaign
however I will let you know that when the issues were voted on and the said issue came out
with the most votes, students cheered and I’m not joking when I say that students ran outside
to hug the trees and kiss the muddy ground.
I look forward to announcing the new National Chairperson, Campaign Chairperson and 2016-
2018 campaign.
Stay tuned until next week or ‘like’ our Australian YCS Facebook page for more regular
updates.
Peace,
Zara Cavalot.
AYCS National Coordinator.