Recent Alumni - In Their Own Words
Editor’s Note: The following article contains first-person accounts from alumni who were actively involved in CU Lux, Christian Union’s ministry at Yale University.
OLIVIA JOHANN, Yale ’22
Major: Religious Studies
Hometown: Centreville, Virginia
Christian Union has been really valuable to me as a community because of how open and vulnerable we can be in the safe space of “the Mouse” (nickname for Christian Union’s Pennington Ministry Center). CU Lux has prompted me to question how my Christian beliefs and practices are put into practice in my college experience and caused me to reflect and grow in ways I could not have imagined. I will take away the love, care, and joys that I experienced with the community of CU in my heart. It's not something I understand with my mind, but something that I believe will stick with me and continue to influence my future decisions.
THUY PHAM, Yale ’22
Major: Statistics/Data Science
Hometown: Lawrenceville, Georgia
Christian Union has given me a pocket of very kind-hearted people who genuinely care – about me, about the community we cultivated together, about the words of Christ, and about putting it all into practice. It’s quite a refreshing atmosphere from the hustle and bustle of Yale to be able to take time out of the week to sit down and talk about the Bible and how we can all help one another grow spiritually. I’ve been blessed to have met some people who live as if all their life is spiritual; being able to marry the secular and spiritual life has been revolutionizing. The girls in my Bible Course were together for a few years, so it was hard to say goodbye in the spring. They’ve listened, prayed, and shown me an enormous amount of compassion throughout the years, so through their words and actions, I’m reminded again and again that His love never fails.
JESSICA ROMERO
Major: Computer Science/Psychology
Hometown: Woodbridge, Virginia
Coming into Yale as a Christian who had not grown up in a Christian household, I was excited that my newfound college freedom meant I could engage in faith life here. My enthusiasm quickly turned into disillusionment when I saw that the size and consistency of the body of Christ on campus did not look like what I had hoped for or matched the experiences of friends at other schools... I still remember my best friend praying, that while we hoped for greater things at Yale, he was certain that even on this campus there were people who loved God and were chasing after Him. Christian Union was one of many ways that I saw God’s faithfulness in answering those prayers. God has used CU to teach me the importance of Christian community in my daily walk by allowing me to believe it in my heart and see it be lived, rather than it just being a fact I knew coming into college. I’ve learned that there’s room to lament the general spiritual dryness at Yale, but also be grateful for the believers that remain steadfast on campus, and be hopeful that God can use CU and the other ministries to bring revival to Yale once again.
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