College life is full of great opportunities. During those four jam-packed years, you can meet interesting people, learn a second or third language, play intramurals, and travel to a foreign country. You can discover a new interest, or refine an old hobby. You'll find ways to serve people in need, experience deep spiritual growth and develop meaningful friendships. We spoke to seven college students about how they grew in life, faith and service to others.

Kirbee Tagney has loved ancient history and excavation since she was a little kid. "We lived in Montana in the middle of nowhere, and I had my rock and bone collection that I kept under the water tank," says Kirbee, now a junior at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa.

Two summers ago Kirbee had the chance to do some real-life excavating when she went to Israel with Associates for Biblical Research, a Christian archeological association. She and a group of about 20 college students and volunteers spent two and a half weeks there—touring the area, getting geography lessons, and digging at an archaeological site where the Canaanites sacrificed to their gods during the early to middle Bronze Age. Kirbee dug up a lot of animal bones, as well as pieces of pottery, iron nails and a delicate clay bead imported from Egypt. Kirbee was so excited about the bead that she ran all around the site, yelling for people to check out her find.

The trip fulfilled Dordt's requirement for students to have a cross-cultural experience, and scored Kirbee some academic credit too.

"I've never really done stuff like this at all," says Kirbee. "It was really out of my comfort zone. It was so completely different from what you could ever experience in this nice quiet rural college that I go to."

Jim Hollendoner transferred to Judson College in Elgin, Illinois, because he felt God calling him into youth ministry. He prayed that he'd be ready to jump headfirst into the program. "It was like God said, 'OK, if you're ready, here you go!,' Jim said. "Judson had a lot to offer, and God used Laine McLaughlin to open those doors and help me get involved."

Laine was Jim's admissions counselor, and the two men hit it off right away. Laine helped Jim get a job as a campus assistant and hooked him up with the school's theater department. Laine, a Judson grad, had also been a youth ministry major, so he introduced Jim to some of the professors in the department, warned him about the tougher classes in the program, and told him which classes he'd enjoyed the most.

When Jim took part in a mission outreach trip to Greece in April 2005, each person on the trip was required to chose a mentor to pray with. Jim asked Laine, and they met several times a week to pray in preparation for the trip. "That was the first time we looked at our friendship as mentoring and it's just continued from there," says Jim. "I go to him with everything!"

This year, as an RA and an intern for Youth For Christ, Jim hopes to have plenty of opportunities to use all that he's learned during his time at Judson to encourage and challenge other guys.

"I'd like to be a mentor for someone like Laine was a mentor for me," Jim says. "In Proverbs 13:1 it says, 'a wise son heeds his father's instruction.' That's kind of how it is—you have people that have done this before. Why not learn from them?"

During his high school years, John-David Van Valin lived and breathed basketball. He planned to play ball when he started at Spring Arbor University in Spring Arbor, Michigan, but in the end decided he didn't want to invest all his free time in sports. Now a junior, John-David is glad he made that decision.

"Not playing basketball freed up a lot of my time for schoolwork and hanging out with friends—stuff I didn't always have time for in high school," he says.

He hasn't missed out on playing ball, either. Right from the beginning of his freshman year, John-David got involved with intramural basketball … and soccer, and flag football, and hockey, and baseball, and even more sports. "It's a lot of fun, but guys really get into it and compete, so it's cool," he says. "I've made a lot of friends just by playing sports."

When Emily Zilich transferred to Phil-adelphia Biblical University in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, halfway through her sophomore year, she kept her eyes open for any way to get involved on campus. The opportunity that came along turned out to be student senate. Although Emily had never done anything like that, her roommate got her interested. At the end of her first semester Emily ran for secretary and won. The next year she ran for vice president and won. But when no one ran for president that year, the rest of the student senate nominated Emily for the job.

"People on campus encouraged me, and I felt the Lord's prod, so I just jumped in," Emily says. As student body president, Emily and seven other cabinet senators try to encourage students to get involved on campus and in the community. They organize a variety of projects, including running a blood drive for the Red Cross, helping campus groups advertise their events, and organizing campus prayer meetings and student-led worship services.

The senate also serves as a communication line between students and faculty. Once a semester they organize a "town meeting," where the entire student body is invited to ask questions of several faculty members, including the president and dean of students.

"I love that I have the honor of serving and representing my peers, and I love that I have the blessing of being an agent for progress," Emily says. "I have never felt worthy to do this job. But I learn something about the Lord's provision and his power every day that I serve."

Josh Dykstra didn't have any experience with radio broadcasting when he began attending Dordt College in Iowa. But campus radio has now become a big part of this college sophomore's life. Josh is a sports announcer for the campus radio station, KDCR. He does play-by-play coverage for varsity soccer, JV basketball, and varsity baseball and softball.

"I didn't make the soccer team at Dordt, and I was kind of bummed out about it," says Josh. "But now I take my years of experience as a player, coach and referee to help other people that might not know about soccer."

KDCR broadcasts beyond the college campus throughout northwest Iowa and into parts of Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota. The station also plays online through Dordt's website. As a result, Josh has gotten calls and emails from listeners all over the country and the world. One of the most memorable calls came from a man in Colorado after one soccer game. The man said that even though he was a "football guy," he'd really enjoyed the soccer game because of Josh's entertaining announcing.

"If I can get one person to smile, my job as an announcer is done." Josh says. "I've learned that you just really have to love what you're doing. And I love doing radio."

David Tucker has been an artist and a musician since he was young, and he's continued to use those gifts at Houston Baptist University in Houston, Texas. A senior art and writing major, David participates in art shows on campus, plays bass in a praise band, works as a road manager for a college singing group, enters a school writing contest every year, plays in the campus band, and is putting together a demo album of his own music—and that's just the beginning!

Even though David developed his musical gifts before coming to campus, he discovered a new gift: sound system tech. At music events he participated in, David noticed that the sound quality wasn't as good as he thought it could be. "So I decided to do something about it instead of just griping," he said. After learning how to run sound equipment, he now works as the road manager for a college-funded singing group. The group puts on concerts to recruit for HBU. For his involvement and expertise, David receives a hefty scholarship.

"There is an abundance of musicians, but not a lot of people working behind the scenes to make it happen," says David. "It's paid off to be knowledgeable in both sound and performance."

During her first year at Azusa Pacific University (APU) in Azusa, California, Christina Grossman found herself immersed in another culture—just a few blocks from her campus. Christina participated in a ministry outreach at a low-income apartment complex owned by the college. Most residents of the Cerritos apartments are Hispanic, and Christina's Spanish skills took off while working there. Beyond that, her worldview was challenged and her passion for people grew.

"My first year of college was so transformed by the ministry—even more so than the classroom," she says. "The Cerritos apartments are less than a mile from the main campus, but volunteering there placed me into the community and moved me out of the APU bubble."

The first semester, Christina tutored kids after school, and the second semester she exchanged English lessons for Spanish lessons with some of the women. APU requires students to put in 15 ministry hours per semester, but Christina estimates she spent well over 100 hours at Cerritos that first year.

She and a few other students got to know some of the families well, and they were often invited to stay for dinner after the tutoring. Christina was also invited to attend church services, baptisms and even a baby shower. Last spring Christina participated in a march for immigrant rights in Los Angeles, alongside some of the families from Cerritos.

"We became so familiar with them and learned their stories. We felt it was our duty to march for them," she explains.

Christina, now a sophomore, encourages incoming freshmen to take a look at their gifts and talents, and then find a place to use them. "My passion is for people, so I poured myself into my ministry," she says.

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Campus Life magazine.
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