Over 1,500 students flocked to South Quad on Wednesday evening to explore faith-based opportunities as part of Campus Ministry’s fifth annual Feed Your Faith event. The event featured music blasting across South Quad as students gathered to learn more about Campus Ministry and its resources while food trucks handed out comfort food. Volunteers also gave out free shirts adorned with the Campus Ministry logo. 
Mike Urbaniak, Campus Ministry’s assistant director of pastoral care, said the event aimed to help students socialize and become familiar with campus ministry.
“We want people to come out with some friends, have some fun and food, and meet some of the great organizations and programs that we have around faith here on campus,” Urbaniak said.
Urbaniak also said he hoped the event would demonstrate to students the richness of faith life on campus. In addition to six food trucks, the event featured 46 different tables representing Campus Ministry and other faith-based clubs and organizations.
For Fr. Pete McCormick, director of Campus Ministry, those tables are important for connecting students with opportunities to practice their faith.
“When I think about Feed Your Faith, it really is an opportunity to showcase all the great work that Campus Ministry is doing, but also the other great clubs and departments around campus,” he said.
While the event was open to all undergraduate and graduate students, McCormick thinks its timing at the beginning of the school year appeals to a first-year crowd looking to get involved.
Marie Latham, a sophomore in the Folk Choir, returned to the event for a second year in a row. She recalled her enthusiasm to explore opportunities last year, but hesitation to join them.
“I definitely signed up for a lot of email lists,” she said. “I think at that point I was a little overcommitted already.”
For McCormick, that ability to discover opportunities with no commitment is part of the event’s strategy.
“The way we think about it is: ‘Hey, we’re going to show you all the things,” McCormick said.
Even if students feel overwhelmed during their freshman year, the event still familiarizes them with the options available for later on in their college careers, McCormick said.
“You have the wherewithal to then say, ‘Ok, I’m going to reach out to them because I’m really interested now,” McCormick said.
Marilyn Zizumbo and Kassandra Perez, a sophomore and junior staffing the Latino Student Ministry table, hoped to encounter some interested students.
Perez said she wanted to tell students about the weekly Spanish mass as well as retreats and other events the organization sponsors.
“It’s geared for the Latino community, but it is for everyone” she added.
Opportunities like student ministries attracted freshman freshman Crystal Lin to the event.
The Pangborn Hall resident is not religious, but she wanted to learn more about ways to explore religion at her new school.
“I hope to learn more about the different clubs or things about religion on campus,” she said.
While not exactly sure what to look for, Lin had a general idea of what type of organization she wanted to join.
“A community to hang out with,” she said, as music from Disney’s “Frozen” rolled over South Quad. “But maybe do dance or something like that.”
