Katie Troup
Then: 2008 summer staff at Covecrest.
Now: Graduated from University of Missouri – Kansas City. Now I’m a youth minister and confirmation coordinator for two parishes, the director of religious education for one of those parishes and on my day off from those jobs, I’m the youth office assistant for the diocese.
Was it worth it? It was definitely worth it! I’m not in the position in my life to do this again. I’ve got a full time job as a youth minister (among other things). If I had done summer staff earlier in my college career, then I probably would have tried to do it again.
Do you still keep in touch with your group? I think it was easier to keep in contact shortly after we all left. There were almost daily texts back and forth, a super long message on Facebook that was added to often, a group we created (GET ALL EXCITED!!!). (: Near the beginning, it was easier to keep in contact, but it has become harder. Most of the people from my time live in Florida, I live in Missouri, so I can’t really see them. We’re all friends on Facebook, so I can stalk them and send an occasional note. And there are a small handful of people who I keep better in contact with: frequent phone calls, etc.
Why should a college student apply to be on summer missionary at camp? It was the one thing in my entire life that affected my faith life the most! At the time I stated that it was the best 5 weeks of my life. Here it is, 2.5 years later, and I still consider my experience the best time of my life. I was able to dive into my faith in a way that just being on Core team or just going to FOCUS Bible studies can’t do. I was able to live my faith fully, something that is hard to do in the “real world.” Our group determined that Covecrest really is the REAL world though, because it’s how God intended us to live.
