Selina joined All Saints Catholic school very shy and retired and was often worried. With support from her head of year she became a student leader and advocate for others in school.

Ben Sinclair (22) is a YCW champion showing incredible leadership skills within his own Parish and University. He has stood up for the rights of his peers through the Catholic Society at Newcastle University. The group meet to discuss the realities that concern young people and the world of work, including the lack of dignified work for students and the challenges of part time work.

In September 2016 a group of like-minded young people from a range of year groups took the initiative to meet regularly to discuss and pray about justice and peace issues at St Wilfred’s Catholic School. They decided to name themselves the “One World Group”

Dominika, 17, threw herself fully into the life of her new school, making new friends through the numerous activities she joined and those she went onto to create. Dominika felt that there was a great deal of optimism and untapped potential in the student body for acting on major social issues that affect young people today,

15-year-old Megan Holmes was Christmas shopping with her mum in Preston when she noticed the number of homeless people. Seeing the numbers that slept rough made her feel angry and frustrated. So she set up the Hope Bag charity.

Emma Murray, 15, is an outstanding young person with a heart of gold. She has a younger sister with complex needs who is non-verbal and yet Emma manages to communicate with her in a unique way.

In a relatively short amount of time Molly Christie has become a key member of her local Rainham parish community. In 2017 she started helping out at her local youth club aged sixteen and since then she has helped in all the youth programmes the church has including the youth band, Confirmation and youth formation. She even helps to put on social events for the whole parish, like the New Year Dawn Breakfast. Molly does a lot of behind the scenes preparation for various church services, learning from others and always available to help.

 Jacob Raju (17), Molly Garber (16), Patrick McGeehan-Miller (14), Liv Smith (14) are from a Justice and Peace Youth Group in Liverpool. The group’s motto is to do 'little things with great love' because they do many small activities full of love such as sponsored walks, Christmas shoeboxes, bughouses for the environment, table sales to raise money for their sister parish in Zimbabwe and more, because, they say, “because we are still young”!

Guardian Angels Impact group in Bury responded to their local bishop, John Arnold’s invitation to all parishes asking them to think about our world in light of Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment.

Lucy Forshaw (17) is a selfless young woman who works locally and internationally to enable others to live with dignity. Since she was 6, Lucy has been involved in Guiding and since the age of 13 has been volunteering at her local unit to support girls in her area. Lucy has made a huge impact on staff and student, giving her time and energy to support a variety of projects - and encouraging her peers to do the same - including Cornerstone Day Centre and Mary and Joseph House, working locally providing services to vulnerable and disadvantaged adults.

Priscilla has dreamed of inspiring young people since she was 16. Despite finding it tough she pushes herself to speak in front of young people with the hope of inspiring and lifting them up

In 2019 Caroline, Juliette, Kezia and Sharon visited the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) as part of their overseas experience with CAFOD during their Step into the Gap placement. On their return the group shared their experiences with over 9,000 people across the country who otherwise would not know about the issues in the Holy Land.

From the minute Amelia Manning walked into school two years ago, she was determined to make an impact. What marks Amelia out is how she relates to others: she is immensely empathic, warm, approachable and helpful. With every encounter she enacts the Gospel, “Just as much as I have loved you, you must also love one another.”

In 2017, 23 families in Peru lost their homes and most of their belongings in mudslides and flooding. Many families still live in tents there. Sophia organised a pyjama day at her primary school and the money raised was taken by her and her mum to Peru and donated to the Loreto Sisters. The Sisters bought five drinking water tanks because sanitation was a big issue in the community.

Following the news of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, 11 year old Eliza Street was touched by how many children were malnourished. Her reaction was to march her Mother down to the local supermarket, then choose and make up her own food parcels. 

Sam is a trained mental health nurse and a former pupil of All Hallows Catholic High School, Preston. Having experienced struggles with his own mental health as a teenager, he set up Change Talks that operates across the North West.

Nick Ting, 22, and Chris Aphonzo, 21, are from St Paul’s parish Courtyard Project in North London. Both have a great passion for community and are extremely eager to see the Church reaching out to young people.

In early 2017, Tommie-Lee, Jayley and Josh from a council estate in Weston-Super-Mare decided to raise money to go to Paris. They raised over £3,000 by by car booting, starting small businesses, presenting to local funding groups, and winning the vote in Waitrose!

Declan is an inspirational young man who has been a lifelong patient of Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital due to a life-threatening illness. Aged 10 Declan decided he wanted to give back to the hospital that gave him so much and embarked on a charity campaign called Declan’s Decathlon.