From playing hacky sack in the Campus Ministry office, to making “Free Hug” signs after Kairos retreats, to coordinating schoolwide liturgies, the LIFE Team is a sanctuary for students interested in getting involved with the Mitty Community.
“LIFE” stands for “Living in Faith: Emmaus”, an allusion to the Gospel story in which two disciples encounter the risen Jesus while traveling to Emmaus. The LIFE Team is Campus Ministry’s community for spiritual growth and leadership. Any senior is welcome to join, and there are always opportunities to help out and contribute to the community. This is especially true for LIFE Corps, the most involved group of LIFE Team members. They are responsible for planning and leading schoolwide masses and retreats; essentially, they are the core (pun intended) of the department’s student involvement.
Both Team and Corps are overseen by various Campus Ministry faculty members, such as Mr. Steve Scott and Ms. Shannon McLeod.
These faculty members work with the students to coordinate various Campus Ministry events. For example, the Thanksgiving liturgy was almost entirely coordinated by students in LIFE Corps’ optional religion elective, Spirituality for LIFE. The elective focuses heavily on practical applications of faith, such as through preparation for liturgies. Mrs. McLeod recalls walking into the class, informing the Corps of the upcoming liturgy, and opening up the floor to ideas. Several enthusiastic volunteers stepped up to the task, ultimately bringing their ideas to life. Many LIFE Corps initiatives are largely student-driven, and Mrs. McLeod marvels at the student leadership and initiative, mentioning that her job “is to support them.”
Through events like the Thanksgiving liturgy, LIFE Team focuses not only on student leadership but also contributing to the community. While the liturgy benefited the Mitty community as a whole, LIFE Team members are also in charge of leading retreats and other events, which foster individual connections between students. Mr. Scott elaborates on these relationships: “Every time I talk to a LIFE team member, there’s one or two specific people that have an impact on them. Say from a freshman or a sophomore retreat, they have someone who inspired them. It’s their chance to give back.”
Senior Yoonwon Jo, who helped lead freshman orientation, feels similarly, citing the leaders on his junior Quest retreat as inspiration. He describes how the effort comes full circle: “They showed me the ways I could get involved in Campus Ministry and meet new people. Guiding underclassmen, as those before me once guided me, has been an incredibly fulfilling and transformative experience.”
Senior Elizabeth Long considers LIFE Team, and specifically the Corps, to be one of Mitty’s best opportunities to find fulfillment and belonging. Originally on Team, she moved up to Corps due to her heavy involvement. Some of her responsibilities in the past year have included preparing materials for retreats and being an usher at liturgies. As she describes, ”It’s just a great way to journey with your faith, whether ongoing or reconnecting with it, and also finding new people, finding a great support system, and great memories.”
For the participants of LIFE Team, the group’s priorities revolve around creating a sanctuary to help students nurture thoughtfulness and community in faith, inclusive of all religions. For example, meetings aim to discuss students’ faiths in terms of their future, examining what that might mean to them going into college and beyond. Mrs. McLeod comments that getting to know students is her favorite part of the program: “It’s definitely a more personal relationship because we’re talking about your faith and how to put it into action.” She describes its effects as a ripple of kindness and service, as students apply these principles of faith to their community and thus spread them to others.
LIFE Team ultimately provides both a spiritual home and a means to give back to the community. Corps creates a more involved opportunity to do so, offering both a holistic responsibility to crew nearly all of Campus Ministry’s events and the privilege to interact with the entire community. As each class matriculates into their senior year, they have the opportunity to form this community of leadership, connection, and faith through LIFE Team.