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Summer of Service 2024 is coming!
Helping youth embark on a path of service
The period of youth is among the choicest of times in a person’s life. It is a time of great energy and enthusiasm, and of rapidly developing interests and capacities. And with access to the world’s accumulated knowledge just a click away, today’s youth are more engaged and knowledgeable than ever before.
Yet as the world around them rapidly transforms, so, too, does the social landscape in which they operate. Rates of depression, anxiety, drug addiction, and suicide among young people are dramatically increasing and youth from every strata of society face a crisis of purpose, identity, belonging and meaning.
Bahá’ís believe that the solutions to these and other major problems facing humanity are fundamentally spiritual in nature. When we actively engage in developing ourselves both intellectually and spiritually while at same time working for the betterment of the world around us, contentment, fulfillment and a deep sense of purpose are natural outcomes. Our studies and aspirations take on meaning and direction beyond the narrow self-interest that our hyper-competitive society so often creates.
The Bahá'í teachings call on those in their youth to be “inspired with brilliant motives” and to be distinguished by their “sanctity and detachment, loftiness of purpose, magnanimity, determination, noble mindedness, tenacity,” and the elevation of their aims. The purpose of the Youth Institute is to help youth embark on this path. It is designed to supplement and enhance their formal education and provide them with the skills and capacities to become moral leaders who can take an active role in the development of their communities in all its aspects. The program focuses on high school aged youth and considers them to have vast potential to contribute to the unity, well-being, and social progress of the world.
The Peninsula Youth Institute is part of a global movement of young people from all backgrounds and walks of life.
Together, they are learning to apply the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh to better themselves, improve their societies, and to serve humanity.
To every generation of young believers comes an opportunity to make a contribution to the fortunes of humanity.
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