Campus Ministry: Endless Opportunities
September 9, 2010 by Ashley Casano, University of Dallas (send comment)
With so many possibilities to grow in faith, campus ministry can easily become a blur of opportunities if they are not pointed out and prayerfully considered. From liturgical ministry on campus and in the surrounding community to weekend retreats with classmates and extended community service trips during vacations, there is no shortage of activities to participate in!
Join the faith community
The college campus is built on the idea of community. The number of clubs, sports, organizations, and activities can be overwhelming, but don’t neglect to consider the faith community of each school. When you visit a campus, ask about the liturgical life, explore the chapels and prayer spaces, and talk to current students about what the faith life is like on a daily basis. If you are a musician, find out whether you can get involved in music ministry. Is daily Mass available? You may even want to get a schedule of Mass times to find opportunities to attend, which will help you balance a busy college schedule!
Participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation is important for students seeking to build upon their faith foundation. Consider how often it is offered and whether or not it is by appointment only (check with campus ministry to find out the details). By regular participation in Reconciliation, Adoration, and other rites, students not only reflect on their own lives, but are also provided a wonderful opportunity to grow in faith and deepen their relationship with God.
Colleges are often associated with one or more religious orders, influencing the charism of campus spiritual life. Particular charisms provide different types of spiritual direction, retreats, Bible studies, and other faith formation. You may also want to consider who is available on campus as part of the greater religious community; priests, religious men and women, and laity are often an integral part of life on college campuses. Finding the right “fit” to foster your spiritual growth is important. Don’t be shy about talking to campus ministers about the faith community and how you may fit into it!
Take it further
Campus ministry can also help students integrate their academic life with their spiritual life. Weekly Bible studies led by spiritual leaders help students with a particular interest in Scripture grow in faith and knowledge as a unified body. Praise and worship, supported and encouraged by campus ministry, provide excellent opportunities for students to rejoice together in fellowship and glorify God through their musical talents. Choirs dedicated specifically to the liturgy offer students the possibility of living out their understanding of the responsibility to achieve a mature understanding of the Catholic faith.
Many students participate in minis-try-sponsored lectures and seminars to strengthen their faith. Schools often bring in guest speakers to lead discussions on social, political, and moral issues. When these topics are presented in accordance with Catholic tradition and Church doctrine in an open dialogue, students develop a deeper understanding of their faith. You can check with campus ministry to find out how you can participate regularly in these types of events, as well as see who has visited campus as a guest lecturer in the past.
You can also live your faith off campus by participating in retreats, often made available to students through the work of campus ministry. Retreats offer students the opportunity to dedicate a weekend to prayer, spiritual reflection, and Scripture reading in a guided setting. They also offer spiritual enrichment by serving an educational purpose, as participants learn ways to incorporate their faith with their daily lives. Students can take leadership roles in these weekends by planning and organizing retreats and serving as spiritual leaders to their peers.
Called to serve
An integral part of campus ministry at most schools is community service. Serving the needs of others is an excellent way to put Catholic social teachings, such as the respect for life and dignity of others, into action. Community service projects range from one-time occurrences to weekly activities, and many universities plan week-long service projects. Colleges and universities provide opportunities for groups of students to sacrifice their spring breaks in order to spend a week serving underprivileged communities throughout the United States or abroad through campus ministry. These types of projects often require spiritual preparation and prayer throughout most of the academic year leading up to the trip. Service projects help students put their faith into practice and recognize the significant need for volunteerism throughout their community and the world.
Many universities also offer activities during which students commit only a few hours of time or a weekend to help others. Common opportunities at many schools include building houses with Habitat for Humanity and volunteer work at local hospitals and nursing homes. By raising awareness of social issues and taking action to promote justice, community service accomplishes a vital aspect of living a faith-filled life. Additionally, active participation in community service brings the greater Christian community of any campus or university together for a common purpose, ultimately bringing the student body, faculty, and staff even closer together.
Develop and grow
Students often find themselves discerning their vocation in life, and it is important to know how campus ministry can provide guidance through the process. Many schools hold vocation awareness fairs where you can speak one-on-one with someone who has pursued a religious call. Marriage preparation and religious counseling, paired with meaningful discussion and prayer, are also ways campus ministry can guide you through discernment.
Once you find the activities and areas where your spiritual gifts are best used, don’t hesitate to stand up and take on some responsibility. Planning Bible studies, interning with the campus ministry office, and seeking executive positions in clubs are great ways to shape and nurture leadership skills and talents. You can also get involved by helping organize events and celebrations on campus. If you are unsure of where God is calling you to serve in college, take time to seek guidance from the campus ministers, priests, and the religious men and women on campus. They are always happy and willing to help students make those very important decisions that arise during their college careers.
You should also consider expanding your experience by serving as a leader in the church off campus. Campus ministry usually has close ties to the community surrounding the college, and catechizing in area parishes is a popular activity for students. Many find that serving in the local community helps prepare them for leadership opportunities and life experiences beyond college. You can reach out to the greater community by tutoring, working with a youth group, or attending Mass at a local church as well.
It’s easy to become overwhelmed by lots of schoolwork when working toward your college degree, but it is rewarding to remember to extend yourself out of your individual pursuits to share in the joy of the community. Whether it’s a movie, ice cream social, or a round table discussion, take advantage of those opportunities to expand your experience, engage in meaningful conversations, and just have fun.
No matter what your interests, it is important to learn what opportunities each school offers through campus ministry to help you grow in faith, gain knowledge and experience, and prepare to be a leader, so be sure to take full advantage of them throughout your college years!
Ashley Casano is an admission counselor at the University of Dallas in Texas.
2010
Writing Your College Application Essay
September 9, 2010 by Lori Greene, Loyola University Chicago (send comment)
Take a minute and think about who might be reading your essay and how it will convey your background. What makes you unique? If you had the opportunity to stand in front of an admission committee to share a significant story or important information about yourself, what would you say? The college essay is your chance to share your personality, goals, influences, challenges, triumphs, life experiences, or lessons learned. These are the stories behind your list of activities and leadership roles on your application.
One of the most common struggles students encounter is resisting the urge to squeeze everything they’ve seen, done, and heard into one essay. The purpose is not to write a comprehensive summary of your life in an allotted number of words. Instead, pick one moment in time and focus on telling the story behind it. Admission officers realize that writing doesn’t always come easy to everyone, but with some time and planning, anyone can write a standout essay.
One way to make your essay stand out is to work step-by-step, piece-by-piece. The end result should be a carefully designed, insightful essay that makes you proud. Take advantage of being able to share something with an audience who knows nothing about you and is excited to learn what you have to offer. Brag. Write the story that no one else can tell.
Use these steps to write a college application essay that will admission counselors knocking down your door:
1. The Question
Ease yourself into the process. Take time to read the question being asked.
Truly understanding the question (or essay prompt) may be the single most important part of your preparation. When you are finished writing, you need to make sure that the essay still adheres to the prompt. Essay questions often suggest one or two main ideas or topics of focus. These can vary from personal to trivial, but all seek to challenge you and spark your creativity and insight.
- Read the essay questions and/or prompts. Read them again. Then, read them one more time.
- Take some time to think about what is being asked and let it really sink in before you let the ideas flow.
- Before you can even start brainstorming, define what it is you’re trying to accomplish. “Is this essay prompt asking me to inform? Defend? Support? Expand upon?”
- If it doesn’t already, relate the question back yourself by asking, “How does this—or how could this—apply to me?”
- Avoid sorting through previous class essays to see if the topics fit the bill. These pieces rarely showcase who you are as an applicant.
2. Brainstorming
Next, get your creative juices flowing by brainstorming all the possible ideas you can think of to address your essay question.
Believe it or not, the brainstorming stage may be more tedious than writing the actual essay. The purpose is to flesh out all of your possible ideas so when you begin writing you know and understand where you are going with the topic.
- Reflect. You have years to draw from, so set aside time to mentally collect relevant experiences or events that serve as strong, specific examples. This is also time for self-reflection. “How would my friends describe me?” “What are my strengths?” “What sets me apart from other applicants?”
- Write any and all ideas down. There’s no technique that works best, but you’ll be thankful when you are able to come back to thoughts you otherwise would’ve forgotten.
- Narrow down the options. Choose three concepts you think fit the scenario best and weigh the potential of each. Which idea can you develop further and not lose the reader? Which truly captures more of who you really are?
- Choose your story to tell. From the thoughts you’ve narrowed down, pick one. You should have enough supporting details to rely on this as an excellent demonstration of your abilities, achievements, perseverance, or beliefs.
3. The Outline
Map out what you’re going to write by making an outline.
Architects use a blue print. A webpage is comprised of HTML code. Cooks rely on recipes. What do they have in common? Structure. The rules for writing a good essay are no different. After you brainstorm, you’ll know what you want to say, but you must decide how you’re going to say it. Create an outline that breaks down the essay into sections.
- All good stories have a beginning, middle, and an end. Shape your story so that it has an introduction, a body, and conclusion. Following this natural progression will make your story flow and easy to read.
- Strategize. How are you going to open your essay? With an anecdote? A question? Use of humor? Try to identify what the tone of your essay is going to be based on your ideas.
- Stick to your writing style. It’s particularly important when writing a piece about yourself that you write naturally. Put the words in your own voice. By planning the layout of your essay ahead of time, you’ll avoid trying to change up your style mid-essay.
4. Write the Essay
Once you’re satisfied with the way your essay is laid out in outline format, begin writing!
By now you know exactly what you will write about and how you want to tell the story. Before you know it, you will have reached the necessary word count, and you will be happy you spent all that time preparing!
- Keep your focus narrow and personal. Don’t lose your reader. Start with your main idea and follow it from beginning to end.
- Be specific. Avoid using clichéd, predictable, or generic phrases by developing your main idea with vivid and detailed facts, events, quotations, examples, and reasons.
- Be yourself. Admission officers read plenty of essays and know the difference between a student’s original story and a recycled academic essay, or worse—a piece written by your mom or dad or even plagiarized. Bring something new to the table, not just what you think they want to hear. Use humor if appropriate.
- Be concise. Don’t use fifty words if five will do. Try to only include the information that is absolutely necessary.
5. Proofreading
The last step is editing and proofreading your finished essay.
You have worked so hard up until this point and while you might be relieved, your essay is only as good as your editing. A single grammatical error or typo could indicate carelessness—not a trait you want to convey to an admission officer.
- Give yourself some time. Let your work sit for a while (at least an hour or two) before you proofread it. Approaching the essay with a fresh perspective gives your mind a chance to focus on the actual words, rather than seeing what you thinkyou wrote.
- Don’t rely solely on the computer spelling and grammar check. Computers cannot detect the context in which you are using words, so be sure to review carefully. Don’t abbreviate or use acronyms or slang. They might be fine in a text message, but not in your essay.
- Have another person (or several!) read your essay, whether it is a teacher, guidance counselor, parent, or trusted friend. You know what you meant to say, but is it clear to someone else reading your work? Have a friend, parent, and/or sibling review your essay to make sure your message is on target and clear to any audience.
- Read your essay backwards. This may sound a bit silly, but when reading in sequential order, your brain actually has a tendency to piece together missing information, or fill in the blanks, for you. Reading each sentence on its own and in reverse order can help you realize not only typos and mistakes in grammar, but that you may have forgotten an article here and there, such as “a” or “the.”
- Read your essay out loud. This forces you to read each word individually and increases your chances of finding a typo. Reading aloud will also help you assure your punctuation is correct, and it’s often easier to hear awkward sentences than see them.
- Check for consistency. Avoid switching back and forth from different tenses. Also, if you refer to a particular school in the essay, make sure it is the correct name and consistent throughout the piece, opposed to two different school names in the same paper.
6. Tying up loose ends
Celebrate finishing what you started. Writing the essay takes time and effort, and you should feel accomplished. When you submit your essay, remember to include your name, contact information, and ID number if one was provided when applying, especially if you send it electronically to a general admission e-mail account. Nothing is worse than trying to match an essay with no name (or an e-mail address such as gurlluvspink@domain.com) to a file. Make sure to keep copies of what you sent to which schools and when—and follow up on them! Be certain the college or university you are applying to received your essay. You don’t want all that hard work to go to waste!
Lori Greene is the Director of Undergraduate Admission at Loyola University Chicago in Illinois.
2010
9/7/10: What Is the Order of the Gray Stripe?
September 8, 2010 by $entry.AuthorName (send comment)
September 8, 2010
Newberry College in Newberry, South Carolina, has recently established a program called The Order of the Gray Stripe, an honor given to select football players chosen for their leadership and character on and off the field.
Head Coach Todd Knight mirrored the program after a similar one at North Carolina State University. Currently, eight of Newberry’s football players hold the title given to them by the team’s coaching staff.
"If the only reason I'm here is to win football games, they could have hired anyone," Knight told television station WISTV. "I want to see these kids graduate, walk across the stage, and be in a position of influence in the community."
The players in the order stand out on the field, wearing a gray stripe on their helmets. But it’s more than just a distinction in their uniforms: the chosen men sign an oath to show character and leadership beyond just the football field.
Joshua Williams, a senior majoring in graphic design, is one of elite members."You represent more than yourself," says Williams. "You represent your school and family."
The football team began their season on Saturday with a 55-0 victory over Livingstone College.
Newberry College is a private, residential, coeducational, college with a diverse student population. It offers baccalaureate degrees in 24 majors, 31 minors, and 27 areas of concentration.
Founded in 1856 by the Lutheran Church, the College is accredited by The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and the National Association of Schools of Music. Core courses emphasize liberal arts, sciences, and technology.
The College has a radio and television station, and offers 15 NCAA Division II sports. For more information, visit www.newberry.edu.
8/31/10: First-Generation College Students Find Challenges, Opportunity
August 31, 2010 by Liz Barry (send comment)
August 31, 2010, The Lynchburg News & Advance
Amethyst Hurt squeezes Biscuit, a droopy-eared dachshund, against her chest, then scoops up Pugzey, the family shih tzu.
She’s near tears again.
Outside, her purple pickup truck waits on the front lawn, packed to the brim with college supplies.
Dad videotapes Amethyst as she lingers on the front porch, not quite ready to leave.
Then a caravan of cars revs up in the driveway, ready to make the 25-minute drive from Rustburg to Lynchburg College, where Amethyst will be a freshman. An entourage of family members—Mom, Dad, brother, aunt, uncle and cousins — will help her move into the dorm.
“Who’s going first, ’cause I don’t know how to get there,” Amethyst asks her mother Deborah as she climbs into her truck.
“To where?” Mom says.
“College!” Amethyst says.
***
Amethyst, 17, joins a class of 580 freshmen who moved into dormitories at Lynchburg College last weekend, a scene that played out at college campuses across the country.
The moment was especially poignant for the Hurts. Amethyst is the first in her family to go to college.
Amethyst joins approximately 600 other “first-generation college students” at Lynchburg College that together comprise about 25 to 30 percent of the student body, says Mari Normyle, LC’s assistant dean of academic and career services.
This year, Lynchburg College is expanding its support network for first-generation students with the help of a $100,000 award from the Walmart Foundation.
In the spring, LC will launch “Expand Your Horizons,” a two-year program for 120 first-generation college students that includes a retreat at the Claytor Nature Study Center, peer mentoring and special courses to help the students develop a four-year plan.
Participating students will qualify for a $750 grant for travel, research, internships, study abroad or other types of experiential learning activities.
Read the rest of this article here.
8/12/10: Williams College Tops Forbes List of Best Schools
August 12, 2010 by $entry.AuthorName (send comment)
August 12, 2010, The Washington Post
Usually college rankings are no big surprise—as in, "Oh, good, Harvard is still considered the best college in the country."
But this week, Forbes came out with its third annual college rankings, which is based on "the student's point of view," and named a new champion: Williams College in Massachusetts.
What, you don't know much about Williams?
It's a 217-year-old private liberal arts school "nestled in the Berkshire Mountains," Forbes reports. The college has just over 2,000 undergrads and a student-to-faculty ratio of 7-to-1. Williams has one of the lowest average student debt loads, $9,296, a number that could go even lower; this spring the college replaced all of its loans with grants.
Williams placed fourth on the Forbes list last year and fifth the year before that.
You can check out the entire list of America's Best Colleges on Forbes.com. Here are the top 10 schools:
1) Williams College
2) Princeton University
3) Amherst College
4) United States Military Academy
5) Massachusetts Institute of Technology
6) Stanford University
7) Swarthmore College
8) Harvard University
9) Claremont McKenna College
10) Yale University
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