Ramon Morales
Staff Writer
The University of La Verne has partnered with the Miller Center of Hebrew College in Newton c\Centre, Massachusetts and Interfaith America in Chicago, Illinois, to help expand the Interfaith initiative program with the Building Interfaith Leadership Initiative.
The Interfaith program’s mission is to embrace students’ diversity and different points of view. It aims to bring them together into welcoming conversations where they can feel safe to share what they believe in and embrace their differences.
University Chaplain Zandra Wagoner said she believes Interfaith is also about building bridges and knowing that there is a community there to support you.
“Establishing relationships is more important than always being right,” Wagoner said.
On campus interfaith programming also includes the student club Common Ground, which welcomes new members.
“At Common Ground, students always have a voice and it will always be respected,” said Hien Nguyen, senior journalism major and interfaith fellow.
Joining the program can be a small step that can lead to benefits in individual, spiritual and religious lives. It can also lead to becoming a national interfaith fellow.
“With the Building Interfaith Leadership Initiative they are focused on inspiring and equipping potential leaders,” said Cherie Atalor, a sophomore computer science major and national interfaith fellow.
Another factor involved with Interfaith is Initiative, a training from a variety of mentors affiliated with Interfaith across the country. Members are involved with a training that is year-long, which includes traveling to cities like Chicago and convening with other people who are also in the program. This year’s training will conclude in April 2023.
“Interfaith work is not about persuading, but more about actively listening to perspectives and not being shy to share your own,” Olivia Magby, graduate student in the master of public administration program and an Interfaith intern, said. In times where many people worry about what others have to think and say, and are looking for disagreement to bring others down, Interfaith is focusing on building each other up.
Both the interfaith community and the Building Interfaith Leadership Initiative focus on preparing students for the environment that surrounds them in their daily lives.
Interfaith mentors make sure that new members obtain social and life skills needed to build bridges and take on obstacles that they may face in life. They acknowledge that not everyone has the same point of view, which means not everyone will observe challenges in the same way, but the initiative aims for spreading encouragement and respect along the way.
Ramon Morales can be reached at ramon.morales@laverne.edu.
Ramon Morales, a senior communications major with an concentration in public affairs, is a staff writer for the Campus Times.
