By: Becca Robb | Echo
Seniors have made it through the freshman fifteen, the sophomore slump and the junior jitters. Now they're edging their way through those final daunting weeks.
According to an informal survey The Echo conducted in April, 61 percent of this year's graduating class agreed that other people have made the most impact on their faith. This is opposed to the impact of chapel, church, missions, sports and classes.But no student can stay at Taylor forever. And not everyone can travel the same path once they leave.
Rachel Vachon ('13), said she especially misses her friends and their discussions about chapel and the Bible. "It was so easy to get connected and really be able to support each other, and have fun and be there through the ups and downs," Vachon said.
Senior Caroline Cilento remembers small groups greatly influencing her throughout her time at Taylor. Cilento regrets not joining a small group during her senior year, because she prefers connecting one-on-one or in a smaller group to connecting in a larger group. After graduation, faith-related opportunities, such as small groups, may not be as readily available.
"Post-college, it's harder," Vachon said. "Friendships still exist, but it's harder to form them and get to that point as easily."
In preparing students for graduation and this difficult transition, Taylor offers several classes specifically for juniors and seniors-Historic Christian Belief, Contemporary Christian Belief (Contemp) and Senior Seminar.
Joseph Pak, associate professor of Biblical studies, teaches Historic Christian Belief as part of Taylor's foundational core curriculum. At the beginning of each class, he asks a student to answer Jesus' question in Matthew 16:15: "Who do you say I am?" By the end of the semester, each student will have answered the question in his or her own words.
"I can only hope . . . (students) might at least give it the chance to rethink their views and at least to know what they believe, and why they believe in it," Pak said. "The hardest part is sometimes I do feel helpless in terms of influencing students enough."
Pak focuses the class on the historic and orthodox beliefs of the church since the time of Jesus. He intends for students to leave with a better understanding of their beliefs and to be confident enough to explain their beliefs to others. The class does not cover how to deal with current unorthodox beliefs, a topic reserved for Contemp.
Even though Contemp deals with current ideologies, graduates still face the difficulty of understanding unfamiliar and unexpected perspectives. In the 2013-14 Senior Exit Survey, only 65 percent of seniors agreed that they were satisfied with doctrinal diversity on campus.
"I'd really like to see a little more diversity in thought," senior Olivia Jessup said. "It's easy to get a herd mindset of 'Oh, well, we all believe the same things.' Well, I know several different atheists on campus. I know several different people who really wrestle with their faith."
Senior Sam Krygsheld encourages students to reach out to other students who have different perspectives.
"It's good to have interactions with (people of different perspectives) if only to get the shock value out of it, so then it's not like you get out of college and see somebody who disagrees with you for the first time," Krygsheld said. "That's not a good place to be."
Though classes do their best to prepare seniors for graduation, they cannot completely prepare any student for life outside of Taylor. One of the most challenging parts of Vachon's transition was the summer after her graduation in 2013.
"Up until that point, I had known what the next step was, and suddenly I had all these directions and I could go and I didn't know where to go," she said.
For Vachon, the breakthrough came with time after making new connections with co-workers and friends. Whether the transition from Taylor is hard or exciting, there is always room to grow and to learn from one another.
Taylor students seem to have the knowledge, the experience and the relationships to thrive after graduation. The greatest challenge for graduating seniors may simply be maintaining those close relationships after Taylor and then taking a risk to reach out to others.
