For many, coming to college as a freshman can be a daunting experience involving an entirely new place, new people, and new freedoms. At a school like UW-Madison, with a sprawling campus and almost 50,000 students, the freshman experience can be disorienting. New students encounter the multitude of lifestyles and value systems held by those around them. Because of this, it can be easy for freshmen to get caught up in the culture of campus and difficult to maintain the faith they grew up with.
Finding belonging
Amid so many new things, it’s especially important for freshmen to find a place where they feel like they belong. Because Sunday Mass can be one of the few familiar things for Catholic freshmen as they arrive for college, Saint Paul’s Catholic Student Center on campus at UW-Madison has grown their freshman ministry to help more freshmen, many of whom initially only planned on visiting the student center for Mass, find a community that helps them develop their relationship with both Christ and each other.
Matthew Monnot, a freshman at UW-Madison, had much of this same experience during his first semester on campus.
“I didn’t have much knowledge of my faith growing up,” Matthew explained. “My family would go to Mass every Sunday, but that was about it. So when I came to college I decided I would continue to go to Mass on Sundays, but I didn’t plan on doing more than that.”
His roommate encouraged him to be more active at Saint Paul’s, but Matthew didn’t want to get too involved at first. “I just wanted to do my own thing and live the college life,” he said. “My first semester I got a taste of the secular world, but it just left me feeling incomplete.”
For Matthew, the turning point was a service trip to New Orleans he signed up for through Saint Paul’s.
“I can pinpoint that trip as the moment things changed,” he said. “It was an amazing group of people, and I had never seen people interact that way before. They were just so happy, and I realized how badly I wanted that.”
Parker Neumeier, another freshman at UW-Madison, had a similar experience. Coming from a family that didn’t practice the faith very actively, she developed a deeper interest in Catholicism during high school after encountering Christian videos on TikTok. This led her to begin the Bible in a Year podcast and watch Catholic faith formation videos. Coming to Madison, Parker knew she would continue to attend Mass but didn’t know there was more she could do.
“I came to Saint Paul’s because I knew I needed a place to go to Mass every Sunday —and that was my plan: Just to come here for Sunday Mass,” Parker said. “Then a missionary introduced herself to me, and so many other people went out of their way to learn my name and welcome me in. I realized then that so many people here love you and want the best for you. That changed the trajectory of my first semester because it wasn’t going well at all, and I was in a horrible place.”
Important for both Parker and Matthew was getting involved in freshman small groups at Saint Paul’s, a program that helps first-year students find authentic community and grow in friendship with each other while receiving faith formation. The freshman-specific ministry was started at Saint Paul’s four years ago and has grown each year, with about 160 participants this year. Small groups are a large part of this ministry, but other opportunities include many large group events throughout the year like sports tournaments, pizza nights, and a Freshman Formal.
The impact of community
Being actively involved in a strong Catholic community and building friendships rooted in Christ has enabled them not only to retain their faith during their freshman year but to take huge strides in their spiritual lives.
“It’s hard to put into words how big of an impact the community here has had in my life,” Matthew explained. “I didn’t know what real prayer was before I came here. You can reflect; you can learn. It adds so much structure to your life — it’s just so powerful. And now I’m able to go lift weights with my friends at 6 a.m. and go to Adoration with them at 8 a.m.”
Parker echoed the sentiments. “You’re not going to find this community anywhere else, where people genuinely care about you and want the best for you. Being involved at Saint Paul’s is a huge reason why I’m super involved in my faith right now. And I think that if I wasn’t so involved in my faith, I wouldn’t be as happy as I am or have the same outlook on life that I do now — not anxious, because I’m trusting in God’s plan.”
But sharing the faith isn’t relegated solely to Saint Paul’s — they also recognize the need to go out and share their faith on campus too, which Parker has been happy to do.
“Being surrounded by the people here makes me want to be the best that I can be in all areas, and that’s given me the confidence to talk about my faith with my classmates and to answer their questions on things like Mass and prayer,” she said.
And Matthew is excited to bring his experience to those going through what he did earlier this year, as he’s been selected to lead a freshman small group at Saint Paul’s next year.
“The thought that I can give somebody the experience I had — the fact that I have the chance to get somebody as invested in the faith as I’ve become over the year — I’m so excited for that.”
As their freshman year winds down and they look back on both the fun time they’ve had their freshman year and the ways they’ve grown, they have the same advice for incoming freshmen: “Go to freshman events here,” says Parker. “Just buy in — it’s really special.”