Prepare yourself for a post from the archives.
Before I blogged and before I took cute pictures of every detail.
Since I already admitted that I cut recipes from the newspaper I figure it can’t get much worse.
If it inspires just one of you then maybe my bad photos will be redeemed.

As a leader for the teenage girls at church in 2008, it was obvious that social media was becoming a huge part of their daily life. I could tell YouTube and Facebook were here to stay. I wanted to help these beautiful girls showcase their talents and goals they set in Personal Progress instead of watching everyone else live their online life.

So was born the “YW Tube” Young Women in Excellence. I made a giant computer screen by using poster paper and decorated it to look like a screen shot of YouTube. I left a big space blank where the videos would play. Ahead of the event I video taped the girls telling about or showing their project. It was perfect for those girls who had a project like plant a garden, decorate their room or work on a sport team because I went to the location to video tape them. It made the actual night of YWIE pretty relaxed because the bulk of the program was already done.

The girls still set up displays of their projects by making a poster or bringing things they had made. And I’m only tearing up a little bit that these cute Beehives are now in college.

For the table centerpieces we made little laptops with cute photos from the year. And apparently we decorated with cords.

The young women sang my favorite church song of all time (I still play it every Sunday on the way to church. My girls and I bust out singing and then we play a manly song for the boys). It is just the perfect song to remind young (and old) women of our essential worth as a daughter of God. The artist is Nicole Sheahan.

I’m sure we had a darling dessert but my brain or my camera cannot back up that fact.

Now 5 years later Social Media is even more of a presence in the lives of our children and this is a message I will continue to shout to/lovingly instruct my own children. Get off the computer/phone/TV and go live your best life. Know who you are and what you stand for. Develop your own talents instead of watching other people on screen develop their talents. Do what Heavenly Father put you on this earth to do and be the star of your own life.

So if this is a message you think your YW could benefit from, get on Pinterest, do it better and then send me your pictures. I am happy to be upstaged.