College Student Summit 2012

I unwillingly traveled to Denver, Colorado two days after my finals ended only to be thrown into another five days of intense classes, intense prayer and intense learning. There was absolutely no-way I could believe that I let myself be talked into yet another Catholic-something. This happens to me all the time. I guess part of the reason is that a lot of my friends head up the Campus Ministry team at my college, but STILL. How many times can you say "no" to a sister before she takes it as your answer? As many times as you want because regardless, she'll keep trying.

Unexpectedly, I'm glad she did.

Sr. Clare is one of our Campus Ministers and while I was steadfast in my mission to be a passive member of our Catholic community at school, she made it her mission to get me more involved. I got incessant invitations, friendly phone calls, texts, Facebook messages and posts... the list goes on. I am a nice person by nature and also have tons and tons of trouble saying "no" to anything, especially when asked directly, so when my lame excuses started to run out, I had no choice but to start quietly getting involved. Sitting in the back of the chapel and speaking minimally in group discussions was perfectly fine with me. I politely declined invitations to lead any group exercises or go to any group retreats, but Denver was different. Month by month, it became harder and harder to say no. And so, I got home May 11th and left again on May 13th.

The College Student Summit hosted by the Augustine Institute was absolutely fantastic, though and well worth the motion sickness and the altitude sickness that I suffered through. I learned so much about my faith, myself and even about dealing with other people that it made me feel content and less afraid to come back home, armed with new knowledge. Listening to speakers such as Dr. Edward Sri, Mr. Curtis Martin, Mr. Jim Beckman, Dr. Jarrod Staudt, Mr. Scott Powell and Ms. Lisa Scott opened my eyes to the virtues that are the core of the Catholic identity, Catholic culture, Salvation History, Love & Responsibility and a whole host of other things.

So I learned more about Jesus, I learned how to dance an 18th century partner dance, learned "Wagon Wheel" and "Chicken Fry" and sang along to a fiddle and now have friends in South Dakota!

Win.