Regina’s Writings: College Kids Rock

What comes to mind when you think of college students? There’s a good chance you picture keg parties jammed with fraternity guys sloshing around in ankle-deep beer. Kool-Aid mixed with grain alcohol. Freshman girls, leering guys, tight jeans, and hooking up. Meanwhile, Mommy and Daddy work second jobs to foot the bill.

Some time ago, I spent several days immersed in a very different college experience. I was visiting Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. Franciscan describes itself as ‘Academically Challenging, Passionately Catholic,’ and it’s true. Franciscan friars in hooded robes are frequent sights around campus, often strolling in animated discussions with students they know.

The highlight of my visit was a campus-wide Mass. It was Holy Week, so Masses were celebrated in the sports complex to accommodate the large crowds. A corps of more than 100 students moved the altar, vestments, chairs, candles, music equipment, and countless other items needed for Mass. The team also included sound technicians, sacristans, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, musicians, and lectors. Many wore headsets to ensure seamless coordination. All were students. That’s right. They were college students.

In the middle of Mass, a visitor near the back of the sports complex collapsed with what turned out to be a heart attack. Within 60 seconds, student ushers called 911, requested on-site medical help, secured the defibrillator, and cleared an area for medical personnel. By the time the priest walked down the aisle seconds later, a sacristan had already retrieved holy oils for anointing. In the midst of this, the woman’s heart stopped, rendering her clinically dead. Immediately, a team member used the defibrillator to restart the woman’s heart.

When the paramedics arrived, they found the woman chatting amiably with nearby students.

Students accomplished the entire resuscitation effort.

Remarkable students can be found on every campus. A dozen students at one college make food for homeless people each week, then hang out with them and play Frisbee together, treating them as humans, not just as homeless people. Groups of St. Anselm College freshmen spend spring break volunteering in Boston tenements while others build houses in rural Tennessee. And tens of thousands of college kids keep themselves pure for marriage.

I know college students who tutor underprivileged children, lead prayer groups, enter the priesthood or religious life, and protect our freedom in the armed services. One 18-year-old guy brings communion to a local nursing home. (The ladies love him.) An ingenious kid started a weekly Bible study in his apartment, followed by a poker game. Initially, many guys came for just the poker, but they grew intrigued when Bible study discussions spilled over into the game. That college kid knows what it means to be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove.

College students are not all losers, boozers, or cads. Many are living the faith and sharing the Gospel’s good news in places adults could never reach.

College kids rock.