Student Minister Training Prepares 'Representatives of Faith' on Campus

By Chris Harrison

This year's student ministers gathered with the staff of Campus Ministry after their trip down the Shenandoah River on Aug. 17, 2006.

By the time CUA’s 16 student ministers have completed half of their intensive training as campus faith ambassadors, they are ready for the one day when they can wear shorts and t-shirts, load up on sunscreen and paddle down the Shenandoah River.

They pile out of the two white vans, on a forested mountain at the intersection of the George Washington National Forest and Shenandoah National Park. They’re joking, laughing and clearly ready for some fun. After the schedule they’ve been on, they deserve it.

The student ministers already have cut summer short to arrive back on campus more than a week ahead of the classmates they are learning to support through their ministry.  They have made it through five days of instruction on how to help students struggling with the day-to-day stress of living away from home. They have done daily role playing exercises on how to peer-counsel students struggling with major conflicts, ranging from eating disorders to pregnancy to suicidal thoughts. They’ve discussed how to help other students deepen their faith.

Father Robert Schlageter and student minister Samantha Giusti.

Every day they pray together and celebrate Mass with the Franciscan friars and other staff who run Campus Ministry. Throughout the week they bond over community meals.

But by Thursday, the group is ready to relax on the annual canoe trip that has become a highlight of the training program other universities have emulated, says Rev. Robert Schlageter, O.F.M. Conv., university chaplain and the director of Campus Ministry.

“These students are working so hard,” he said during the most recent canoe trip, on Aug. 17, sounding like he could definitely use a breather himself. “This is the day of rest in our program, where we can all come together, reflect, rest and bond together as a community.”

“This week we’re trying to give them really useful tools, to help them achieve a balance between managing their own lives and making a positive impact on campus,” added Lauren Heckman, associate campus minister for women's issues and social justice and a former CUA student minister herself. “Training week is when the students are able to establish relationships with each other and develop the confidence they’ll need to do their work. And they come away with some great memories.”

The group stopped for lunch and a riverside Mass offered by Father Schlageter, Father Brad Heckathorne and Father John Koziol.

On canoe day, the students spent five hours working their way down a low and, for the most part, slow-moving river. They had to negotiate a few rapids. A few boats tipped over, and were righted with the kind of teamwork to be expected from those called to a life of service.

Samantha Giusti, 20, an outgoing social work major from Gloucester Township, N.J, had never paddled down the river before and was a little nervous — similar to her feelings of entering ministry.  Luckily, her canoe partner was Father Schlageter (known throughout campus as Father Bob), who has a fair amount of paddling experience.

Father Bob and Giusti had an easy time of it for the first part of the trip. “It was, as they say, smooth sailing,” she notes, “but that changed once we hit the rapids and our boat tipped over. Our Campus Ministry theme this year is ‘Into the Deep — No Fear, Just Faith,’ and that’s where I was — up to my shoulders in the water,” with the boat stuck on some rocks, until her co-paddlers came along to help upright it.

“You could definitely look at the canoe trip as a metaphor, for student ministry and life in general,” Giusti says. “You can hit some rough spots in life, and in your ministry, but you just keep going and get through it. People come along to help you out. And you grow from the experience.”

Father Bob has been taking student ministers out to the river as part of their training week for the past eight years. He is assisted by his associate ministers, including fellow Franciscans Rev. Brad Heckathorne, O.F.M. Conv., associate campus minister for graduate students and student staff, and Rev. John Koziol, O.F.M. Conv., associate campus minister for religious education.

The friars staff the river trip and the rest of training week along with Heckman and the university’s other lay associate ministers, including Emmjolee Mendoza, associate campus minister for community service and DC READS; Jessica DePrizio, associate campus minister for liturgy and worship; and J.P. Winchester, associate campus minister for retreats and men's issues.

Prayer is completely integrated into the week — even on the river trip, the group stopped for an outdoor Mass and lunch by the river bank.  The students, still soggy from dragging boats out of the water to create a makeshift altar, fashioned a cross out of sticks and found a way to hang it behind the friars, who donned white vestments kept clean and dry in plastic bags during the trip.

“Let’s just pause a moment to try and place ourselves in the presence of God,” Father Bob said to the group, gathered around the altar. “There are special moments in our memories and they’re meant to build us up. I think of this trip as a time when we create some of those moments.”

Students gathered for a faith talk after Mass and lunch.

Half of the student ministers — who are selected through a competitive application and interview process — will live in The House, located in Caldwell Hall, where freshmen can come for weekly faith activities and social programs offering an alternative to alcohol-centric partying. The other eight residential ministers will live in the various residence halls for upperclassmen on campus.

All will be very busy over the course of the year as they counsel their peers, help organize liturgical offerings on campus and participate in scores of Campus Ministry activities. The packed schedule of training week is a preview of  what’s to come over the course of the year.

The year starts out on a high, with the training, the bonding, the energy and enthusiasm of those who feel called to share their faith and help others. They can encounter some rough spots along the way, when most find it tough to balance schoolwork, their ministry and all the other demands college students must manage.

But the effort is more than rewarding, say past and present student ministers.

“It’s 100 times better than I thought it would be – and I had high expectations,” Guisti says, a month into her ministry. “You’re busy, it’s a rigorous schedule, but at the same time it’s unbelievably rewarding. I’m having so much fun.”

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