As students skim through the Get Involved Rollins page, they might be asking themselves, “How many clubs does Rollins have?” That list of clubs continues to grow as Madison Tuder (‘28) works to introduce Young Life to the Rollins campus.
As provided by the organization’s website, Young Life’s mission is to “introduce adolescents to Jesus Christ and help them grow in their faith.”
The way Tuder sees it, “it’s a community with a little sprinkle of Jesus.” She is cultivating a fun environment where “we sing songs, play games, do raffles, have a time of worship, and do a short little chill talk. People can just hang out, have fun, and be themselves with no expectations.”
Being a “Young Life kid” since middle school, and then eventually becoming a middle school leader in high school, Tuder felt like Young Life was a critical part of her life and wanted to share that with others.
“Last year, I was ‘crashing out’ because I felt like I didn’t have purpose, and I didn’t know what I was doing at Rollins. I started talking to my roommate about how I was feeling, and she told me that maybe my purpose is to bring Young Life to Rollins.”
After embracing her new purpose, Tuder worked to get in touch with the Young Life Orlando organizers. “It was actually super easy. I worked with the guy from Young Life Central Florida, Brad, who helped me pitch the idea and figure out how to bring this club to life at Rollins and how to make it last,” said Tuder. “The hard part was proving to Young Life on how we were going to establish ourselves here and keep it going.”
Bringing Young Life to a college campus, Tuder has her sights set on getting connected with the larger community.
“The main goal is to get Rollins students to become middle and high school leaders in Winter Park so that we’re not having to bring UCF students all the way over here. Also, those middle and high schoolers can have leaders that are so close to them in their community,” said Tuder. “That really is the main goal of Young Life in college, but it’s also to have a community for those college students. We are here to give you people to walk through life with you and have those hard life and faith conversations, but also just to have fun with.”
Tuder encourages everyone to show up to Young Life: “We’re here to hang out with you and love you, regardless of where you stand with faith. We just want to be friends with you.”
Young Life had their first meeting on Tuesday, Sept 16, and will meet every Tuesday at 7:47 pm with club meetings every other week and tournaments/events in between clubs.
Ways to get involved with Young Life:
Follow their Instagram @rollinsyounglife
Join the GroupMe
Click on the LinkTree
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