Our end of year banquet serves as a great way to send off Seniors, as we hold it close to graduation time, and though seniors can come to youth group until school starts, it’s usually the last time all of our seniors are together before the busy-ness of summer kicks in. It serves as a great way to welcome incoming 5th graders, as we use this event as their official welcome to student ministry. One of the things I love is that they get to see some of the things that make our Youth Ministry such a great experience, in a way, it’s almost like a giant commercial for 5th graders of “this will be you!” and even better, Parents get to see “this is the value of student ministry in a kids life!” It also is a great connection piece for Parents in our student ministry. Like mentioned above, Parents get to see the value of student ministry, but they also get to connect and interact with other parents, connect with new friends at church, and build relationships to help them navigate the teen years of parenting.