By JC Montenegro, PhD

(Bellflower, California) – At a time when many people wonder whether young people are still open to faith, Camp Savio offers a hopeful answer.

They are open, but their journey toward faith often begins long before they describe themselves as religious. It begins when someone welcomes them, remembers their name, listens without judgment, and entrusts them with a meaningful responsibility. It begins when they experience a community in which joy is genuine, relationships are trustworthy, and faith is visible in the way people treat one another.

This is the kind of environment St. John Bosco created for the young people of Turin. Nearly two centuries later, his vision continues each summer at Camp Savio.

Camp Savio is a five-week Salesian day camp serving approximately 400 children. More than 200 camp counselors make the experience possible, and the majority of them are teenagers. After months of preparation beginning in March, these young people dedicate a significant part of their summer to accompanying children through games, music, prayer, testimonies, formation, and friendship.

They do much more than volunteer.

They become educators of other young people.

They become mentors, witnesses, and older brothers and sisters to the children entrusted to them. In the process, they also undergo a transformation of their own.

Young People Evangelizing Young People

One of Don Bosco’s greatest insights was that young people should not be treated merely as recipients of ministry. They should become protagonists in the mission.

Camp Savio puts that conviction into practice.

Every morning, teenage counselors welcome children into an atmosphere filled with music, enthusiasm, movement, and laughter. They lead activities, manage conflicts, offer encouragement, and notice when someone feels excluded. They are asked to be responsible for others while they are still learning how to understand themselves.

This responsibility is demanding. It is also deeply formative.

A teenager who once wondered whether their voice mattered suddenly discovers that a group of children is listening.

A young person afraid of making mistakes learns that leadership does not require perfection.

A counselor struggling with self-confidence begins to recognize personal gifts through the eyes of the children who trust them.

The counselors arrive to serve, but service gradually reveals something about their own identity.

They discover that they have something worth giving.

What Teenagers Carry With Them

At the end of the third week of camp, 123 counselors completed a reflection survey about their fears, hopes, identity, and relationship with God.

Their responses offered an honest glimpse into the interior lives of the young people serving at Camp Savio.

Although they had trained for months and were dedicating five weeks of their summer to caring for children, they carried many of the same struggles that teenagers far beyond the camp experienced.

They spoke about fears of failing, disappointing others, being judged, and not being good enough. Some described anxiety, loneliness, comparison, self-doubt, and uncertainty about the future.

When asked which affirmation they most wished they could truly believe, several themes appeared repeatedly:

“I am enough.”

“I am worthy.”

“I matter.”

“I am loved.”

When they were asked what they most wanted God to say directly to them, their responses returned to the same fundamental desires:

“I love you.”

“You are enough.”

“I am proud of you.”

“Everything is going to be okay.”

On the surface, the survey explored fear. At a deeper level, however, it revealed a struggle with identity.

These young people were not only asking whether they would succeed. They were asking whether they possessed value before they succeeded.

They were not simply afraid of making mistakes. They were wondering whether mistakes would make them less worthy of love.

This is one of the central pastoral questions facing anyone who accompanies young people today: How can we help them discover that their dignity does not depend on achievement, popularity, appearance, or perfection?

The Christian response begins with the same truth revealed at the baptism of Jesus: identity comes before mission. Before Jesus begins his public ministry, he is named as the beloved Son.

Young people also need to know that they are beloved before they can fully understand what they are being called to do.

When a Young Person Says, “I Am Not Religious”

Some counselors wrote plainly, “I am not religious.”

Such a response can easily be interpreted as rejection or indifference. A Salesian approach, however, invites us to listen before drawing conclusions.

What does “not religious” mean to a teenager today?

For some, it may mean they do not identify with an institution. For others, it may reflect disappointment, uncertainty, limited experience of faith, or difficulty seeing how religion connects with ordinary life. For still others, it may simply be the most honest language available to describe where they are at that moment.

We should not place words in their mouths or assume that every response has the same meaning.

What we can do is remain present.

Don Bosco did not wait for young people to possess perfect faith before welcoming them. He did not begin by demanding religious knowledge or external conformity. He entered their world. He listened, played, laughed, taught, challenged, and accompanied them.

He created an environment in which belief could become credible because love had already become tangible.

That remains the Salesian task today.

Evangelization is not first about winning an argument. It is about helping young people encounter a community in which the Gospel can be seen before it is fully understood.

The Gospel Experienced Through Joy

Anyone encountering Camp Savio for the first time quickly notices its energy.

Music fills the campus. Children laugh and run between activities. Counselors sing, cheer, tell stories, and create an atmosphere that can initially feel overwhelming to someone unfamiliar with it.

One head counselor described his first experience through a humorous story written after a morning prayer reflection.

He imagined himself as a king reluctantly attending a celebration called the Savio Ball. As he approached, he heard hundreds of young people shouting, cheering, and jumping together. Confused by what he saw, he wondered whether he had entered “some kind of cult.”

He considered turning around.

Instead, he stayed.

At first, he was not the loudest person in the room. He did not jump the highest or cheer with complete confidence. But little by little, he joined in. He met people. He allowed himself to participate.

What initially felt strange became familiar. What felt intimidating became joyful. The outsider discovered that there was a place for him.

The humor of the story makes it memorable, but its movement from fear to belonging expresses something essential about Camp Savio.

Every new counselor understands what it feels like to stand at the edge of a community.

Every child arriving for the first time wonders whether they will fit in.

Every person carries some version of the same silent questions:

Will anyone notice me?

Will I be accepted?

Is there a place for me here?

At Camp Savio, evangelization often begins through the community’s response to those questions.

A morning welcome says, “You belong.”

A counselor who remembers a child’s name says, “You matter.”

A patient conversation says, “Your story is worth hearing.”

A second chance after a mistake says, “You are more than what you have done.”

A testimony says, “God is present in real lives, including yours.”

The Gospel is proclaimed through words, but it is also embodied through presence.

The Preventive System in Practice

Camp Savio’s deepest Salesian character is not found only in its activities. It is found in the relationships that shape the day.

Don Bosco’s Preventive System is traditionally expressed through reason, religion, and loving kindness. At Camp Savio, these principles become concrete.

Reason is present when counselors guide children with patience, clear expectations, and respect rather than humiliation.

Religion is present through prayer, testimonies, formation, and recognition of God‘s activity in ordinary human experiences.

Loving kindness is present when young people know they are not simply supervised but genuinely cared for.

This requires more than being physically present. It requires what the Salesian tradition calls assistance: an active, attentive, encouraging presence among the young.

For teenage counselors, this means entering games rather than observing from a distance. It means noticing changes in a child’s behavior. It means sitting beside someone who is alone. It means correcting with dignity and celebrating growth.

These ordinary actions may seem small, but together they form a culture.

Within that culture, children are protected, encouraged, and invited to grow. At the same time, the teenage counselors learn how to become responsible, compassionate, and attentive to the needs of others.

The Preventive System forms both the child and the counselor.

The Hidden Transformation

The children are the most visible beneficiaries of Camp Savio, but they are not the only ones transformed.

Many counselors begin the summer uncertain about their abilities. Some are afraid they will not be energetic enough, outgoing enough, patient enough, or holy enough. Others arrive with significant personal struggles that remain invisible beneath the camp shirt and enthusiastic welcome.

Yet each day they are entrusted with a mission.

They comfort a homesick child.

They encourage someone who feels excluded.

They lead a prayer even when they are still learning how to pray.

They share joy when they do not feel completely joyful themselves.

They return the next morning, even after a difficult day.

Through these actions, they begin to see themselves differently.

The young person who wants to hear “You matter” becomes the person who communicates that truth to a child.

The counselor who hopes God will say “I am proud of you” becomes the mentor who expresses pride in someone else.

The teenager who doubts whether they are loved becomes an instrument through which another person experiences love.

This does not mean their fears disappear. It means their fears no longer possess the final word.

Service gives them an opportunity to act from a deeper identity.

A Lesson for Salesian Youth Ministry

Camp Savio reveals something important about evangelizing young people in 2026.

Young people have not stopped searching for God. Many, however, begin that search through questions of identity, belonging, trust, and purpose.

They may not initially use theological language.

They may describe themselves as uncertain, disconnected, or not religious.

They may arrive because of a friend, because they need service hours, because their family encouraged them, or simply because they want something meaningful to do during the summer.

The Salesian response is not to consider these motivations inadequate.

It is to begin there.

A relationship can become an opening.

A responsibility can become a vocation.

A testimony can become a question.

A community can become the place where a young person begins to imagine that God might be closer than previously believed.

This is not a watered-down form of evangelization. It is evangelization in the style of Don Bosco: patient, relational, joyful, and confident in the action of grace.

Already Known, Already Valued, Already Loved

The counselors’ survey revealed fear, but it also revealed hope.

Despite their insecurities, more than 200 young people chose to serve.

Despite their questions, they accepted responsibility for others.

Despite their own desire for affirmation, they became sources of encouragement for approximately 400 children.

They did not wait until they had every answer.

They began with the willingness to be present.

Perhaps this is one of the most important lessons Camp Savio offers the wider Church. Young people do not need to be perfect before they can participate in the mission. They need communities that recognize their gifts, accompany their struggles, provide meaningful responsibility, and remind them of their dignity.

Don Bosco dreamed of communities where young people would know they were loved and, because they knew they were loved, would become capable of loving others.

That dream continues at Camp Savio.

It continues every time a teenage counselor welcomes a child by name.

It continues every time a young person chooses patience instead of frustration.

It continues every time someone who once stood cautiously at the edge of the community becomes the person inviting another to enter.

Camp Savio is more than a summer program.

It is a place where children encounter teenage counselors who care for them, and where those counselors discover that they themselves have something sacred to offer.

In a world where so many young people quietly ask, “Am I enough?” Camp Savio responds not only with words but with an experience:

You are already known.

You are already valued.

You are already loved.

And because you are loved, you are capable of becoming a sign of God’s love for someone else.