I wish everyone could experience the young people the way I do. They have much to offer and I like to watch them come alive and grow.”
Jerome Meeds, Dunrovin Executive Director
The news is out and still fresh. Dunrovin inaugurates its first Dunrovin Servant Leaders Team of young adults in September 2025. This team brings to fruition a longing in the heart of Executive Director Jerome Meeds. As he has worked with teens and young adults for the past 40 years, Jerome sees their zeal, energy, AND capabilities. He knows they are the church of today – no waiting for tomorrow.
And they need mentors.
The Servant Leaders generously offer 11 months of their young adult lives, putting other plans on hold or maybe searching for those elusive other plans. The Servant Leaders will be the primary role models in our teach-model-practice pattern. They will give retreats for high school teen leaders, who turn around and lead day retreats for middle school students. Many of the students come from low-income populations. The young people of all ages, from middle school through young adulthood, are ripe for transformation and growth.
In a unique twist, the kind Jerome is well known for, the Servant Leaders’ gap year provides spiritual ministry alongside professional development for each young adult. This combination is nothing new to LEAD. It imitates the entire program’s focus on growth in four pillars: faith, personal development, community, and servant leadership.
LEAD, which stands for “Leadership Experience At Dunrovin,” is a 4-step servant leadership training program. These are the four parts of the program; a student can move through all four steps or enter any particular one.
- LEAD Encounter
- LEAD Training
- LEAD Intensive (DLITE – Dunrovin Leadership Intensive Training Experience)
- LEAD Immersion (Dunrovin Servant Leaders Team)
Learn more at Youth Leadership: Why? – Dunrovin | Christian Brothers Retreat Center
Immersed in the active world of being a responsible adult, Servant Leaders need Leadership Mentors – professional, experienced people who desire to offer knowledge and wisdom to young adults searching for their place in life.
Example makes a much greater impression than words.”
Our Founder, Saint John Baptist de La Salle
Students avoid accruing college debt, a prime reason for taking a gap year when they do not know what course they want to pursue. Ages 18-24, Servant Leaders are receptive to insight, willing to explore, and hopeful to find their place in the world. Leadership Mentors make an impact when they help young people cultivate their desires and potential. An experienced mentor can dispel common myths, discuss pitfalls, and communicate rewards from a particular pathway in life. Complimenting the Leadership Mentor role, each young adult will receive 1:1 certified coaching from Dunrovin staff.
The commitment of a Leadership Mentor can vary. Perhaps one will come in for an evening to explain their area of expertise, willing to facilitate a Q&A time. Another may set up a take-a-servant-leader-to-work day, allowing the young adult to shadow them in the office, clinic, field, etc. Another may even take a young adult under their wing and meet monthly for six to eight months, allowing the young adult to have a more in-depth look at their area of expertise.
LEAD promotes personal development at each level of the program. LEAD Immersion – the Dunrovin Servant Leaders Team – makes the biggest impact by assisting the Servant Leaders to recognize aptitudes and strengthen desires for a life path. What a blessing!
“Young people need the light of watchful guides to lead them on the path of salvation.” -Saint John Baptist de La Salle
margaretm@dunrovin.org | 651-433-2486