A View From Campus
Although I moved only an hour away from home to attend college at the University of Evansville, the transition was still overwhelmingly frightening. My intentions at the start of my freshman year were clear: focus on academics and avoid becoming overly active in any extra-curricular activities that would distract me from gaining the most potential from the educational experience.
However, the latter idea was quickly dismissed once I was introduced to the Catholic Newman community. The Newman Club offered a Catholic Mass the first Sunday that I was on campus, and I attended the service in hoping to feel some sense of normalcy that reminded me of home. From that moment, my academic and social college experience began to flourish as I found my new home and family in the Newman community at UE. The hospitality and delectable food that lured me in could not be described in justice as my new family taught me how to grow in my faith in a way I never imagined possible.
The Newman Club offered many opportunities for me to learn more about my faith with adoration hours, bible study groups, discussions with community members of the faith, fall and spring break retreats, and leadership roles. Although the time spent at these activities proved very important to my faith education, the most memorable moments with the Newman Club are the endless hours I spent with my Newman colleagues.
Our hours together have included playing kickball with makeshift bases, rolling on the floor laughing during two-hour long Apples-to-Apples games, and confiding in other Newman members of my major when stressing about grades and classes. These friends helped guide me as I proceeded to discover the history of my Catholic faith.
I have studied and practiced better ways of prayer through daily Mass opportunities at local parishes and participating in, and eventually leading, a bible study with other Catholic students. As I now enter my senior year of college, I cannot imagine what my college career at UE would have been like without the close friends I have made with Newman.
It brings me comfort to learn and grow, academically and spiritually, with other Catholics who share in the same hardships of young adulthood. During my three years of college thus far, I have rediscovered who I am as a Catholic and explored new ways to volunteer and spread the faith in youth ministry and throughout the Evansville community.
My sincerest gratitude to the Newman Club members for their warm welcome and dedication to include all people cannot be overstated. I know that I am a better person, a better student and a better Catholic because of the Newman community’s compassionate desire to provide a safe haven to college students in young adult ministry.
Voegerl is a senior at UE.
