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Wednesday, November 3, 2000
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Sarah Shik, Overland Park senior, is president of the Hillel Foundation, the KU student Jewish organization. Portrait by Justin Schmidt/KANSAN
Learning
Mike Lee, Lawrence sophomore, is the student coordinator for the Alternative Spring Break program under Ecumenical Christain Ministries. Portrait by Tara Kraus/KANSAN
For two KU students, college is a place to build belief and culture
By Michelle Ward Special to the Kansan
M
like Lee and Sarah Shik share a dream.
But there is more that connects these two than future career plans. They also devote time to KU religious organizations as student leaders.
They both want to help the environment through the legal profession. Lee, a Lawrence sophomore, and Shik, an Overland Park senior, study English at the University of Kansas, with hopes of moving on to law school.
The pair face difficulties as both college students and leaders of faith. They find themselves still exploring their own ideas about religion.
"I will always be Jewish. I will always have ties to Israel," said Shik, president of the Hillel Foundation, the Jewish student organization. "I feel a very close bond to the Jewish community. I am not very religious, though. My biggest focus is trying to be a good person."
A transformation of faith
Lee is co-coordinating the Ecumenical Christian Ministries' trip to Abiquiu, N.M., this year. Lee attended the same alternative spring break trip last year. Lee and fellow student coordinator Erica Dresslaer, Wichita senior, started promoting the trip this fall with pamphlets and testimonials. He said the real work would be the spring informational meetings about the cultural beliefs of their destination.
Dresslaer, who also made the trip, noticed Lee's growing faith during the week. Lee is trying to give others that same opportunity. Dresslaer said.
After last year's trip, Lee found another way to describe him-
"I think what is so great about Mike is his enthusiasm," she said. "He is making this a positive experience for everyone."
Lee took many rolls of filk while in New Mexico on an alternative spring break. Landscape photos contributed by Mike Lee
He followed Christianity in high school but did not use the term because of its association with negative stereotypes. He did not want people to think he was a conservative or that he would try to touch his faith on them.
to pass the time of those.
A meeting in New Mexico with ECMs director, the Rev. Thad Holcombe, changed his mind about the title.
"Typically, clergymen are seen as pretty uptight," Lee said. "Thad is so open to what students go through. He has been the main catalyst for
my involvement in ECM."
Lee did not learn about Christianity as a child. His father taught him about Eastern thought, especially Zen Buddhism. Lee said he found that peace could come through nature — still one of his strongest beliefs.
Lee's favorite memory during trip last year was of the sunrise in Abiquiu.
Lee captured many of these experiences on camera.
photographer found tranquility in shooting landscapes, bringing back roles of film from New Mexico.
The photographer found peace in shooting landscapes, bringing back roles of film from New Mexico. The
"Mike is a great photographer," Holcombe said. "He is also a great leader. He is open to others and their ideas. Mike is articulate and relates well with all people."
With taking on the Christian faith, Lee said he did not want to lead other people's lives for them or try to push his religion on them. He said college was a time for exploration and questioning, not only of religion but of life.
Lee said he didn't consider it a sin to drink or go to bars — he said it was part of the learning process. If people want to participate in religion, they must seek it out for themselves, Lee said.
people's faith. You invite us to Lee does not abide by one church's doctrines. He instead combines portions of Eastern thought, transcendentalism and Christianity. While he learned Eastern thought early in life, he explored the other two on his own, wanting to reach a greater spirituality. The transcendentalist ideas of peace and civil disobedience coincide with the ideas of the Gospels, Lee said. Thus, by weaving many different religions into his faith, he is a Christian but is not defined by it.
"I think a student has to choose to be active in religion," Lee said. "It is not an easy time for us. Just everyday pressures test people's faith. You have to be strong."
"I consider myself a religious man, but more than that, a spiritual one," he said.
Connecting with culture
snik has also put her faith into practice in the University setting.
Hillel helped start a national peace effort last week with its white ribbon campaign. With the antagonism in the Middle East threatening to spread to campus, the Jewish student group decided to take action. Hillel did not counteract the antiIsrael protest at Wescoe Hall on Thursday. Instead, it called for a cease-fire for the ravaged land, handing out ribbons and trying to unify people on campus, she said. Other chapters of the
group across the nation have followed KU's lead.
"I am very proud of the way they handled the situation," said Susan Shafer-Landau, executive director of Hillel. "There were some conflicts within our own group on how to approach the rally. We did not want to engage in any action that might lead to violence as on some other campuses. They went back and forth, but what ultimately came to be was that everyone wanted peace. The ribbons gave them the ability to reach out to people."
Shik doesn't know if peace can ever come to her father's homeland. Part Israeli, to Shik the struggles in the Middle East are deeply personal to Shik, with several of her family members having served the army.
She does not favor the hardline pro-Israel stance that some of her faith do.
"I think it makes me more objective that I am so deeply involved," she said. "It is easy to give your opinion when you are not. When I walk down the streets of Jerusalem, Palestinians and Israelis interact with each other all the time. You can't be that brutal when you live on the same block. It is so complex."
The first-time president does not like such weighty issues to consume her group's attention. Shik said she tried to keep things on a lighter note, wanting people to enjoy their time with the group.
She starts meetings of Hillel by having everyone announce his or her favorite song or television show of the 1980s, said Heather Karlin, Hillel's religious chairperson and Atlanta junior. Another time Shik made everyone pick a fruit or vegetable they most represent and why.
Since joining the group last year, she said Hillel had provided a "home away from home." She went to a picnic the beginning of her junior year and kept coming back for more.
She said Hillel was an umbrella organization — if its members want to get involved with politics, the environment or other social issues, the Jewish group can help them. Although she can find a myriad of things to do there, she has reconnected with people sharing her background. The Jewish people in general are a close-knit group, and she has found a community of those connected through culture, she said.
connected in all ways. "To some people, Judaism is more cultural than faith," she said. "There are a lot of cultural things that separate us from other people."
For right now, Shik falls in the cultural category. She finds the shared experiences comforting but does not consider herself extremely religious. She looks at college as a time for exploration into different ideas, which is why religion is not a central issue for her right now.
"One of things I realize is that school is something that is passing," she said. "You have your religion the rest of your life. You have faith your whole life."
- Edited by Kathryn Moore
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