The Armenian Church Helps Guide College Students with New College Ministry: www.college301.com

All college students are searching. Questions once answered by parents, teachers, and church, have now become their own. These questions run from everyday concerns—“Should I clean my room?” “Should I get up for class?”—to deeper ones—“What should I be when I grow up?” “Who should I love?” “Is this right or wrong?”

For the first set of questions, at least, colleges employ resident assistants, professors, and counselors to help answer them. As for the second set—questions with a moral or spiritual dimension—most colleges, for good or ill, leave students to answer these on their own.

That doesn’t mean that students are entirely without resource, however. The Armenian Church has guidance to offer students grappling with the deep questions of their lives. What should a young person strive to be as an adult? Not simply someone who does well, but also someone who does good. Who should one love? Friendship, romance, and even familial love are all important in one’s life; but put the love of God first, and you may find the others falling into place.

Today more than ever, it seems, college students need the wisdom the church offers. The problem is, how can the church reach them? Some students go away to school and now live far from an Armenian Church community. Others remain geographically close to home and church—but don’t quite feel that they fit in. Pastors can’t be everywhere, and need a way to stay connected with the dispersed students of their flock.

That was the motivation behind the new Armenian Church College Ministry website, College 301, launched by the Eastern Diocese this past autumn.

College 301 is an open invitation from the Armenian Church to thousands of Armenian students. The site’s resources can be accessed 24 hours a day, by Armenian students from the University of Maine to Texas A & M (and beyond). Think of it as a search engine for the searching generation: a critical new resource for students who spend an average of 10 hours per week online.

From the Practical to the Sublime

With college students, it’s often useful to start with the most basic question: “What can my Armenian heritage do for me?”

By way of an answer, College 301 has a regularly updated Network Board and Scholarship page, to help students find jobs, internships, and scholarship opportunities in the Armenian community. One of the busiest pages on the site is the Calendar of Events, which lists opportunities to become active in the local college, church, and broader Armenian communities. Other pages have E-cards, recommended reading lists, and tips for getting the most out of one’s college years.

More than 2,000 college students across the Diocese receive this information through the College Ministry program’s monthly e-newsletter, Eh-mail. Eh-mail also highlights recent trends in the living faith and culture of Armenians, and delivers it to students’ dorm rooms faster than a Domino’s Pizza.

As they become upperclassmen, most students turn their thoughts to a deeper question: “What might my Armenian heritage do to me?” The emphasis shifts from what a student wants to do, to the question of what kind of man or woman they want to become.

To this end, College 301’s Discussion Forum encourages students to explore aspects of their faith and heritage with each other, and with other knowledgeable church members. In its first semester of operation, students have already posted hundreds of messages discussing what being an Armenian Christian means to them.

Another website feature, In Armenia, outlines a dozen ways to travel, study, or work in Armenia. Students can build their character by helping to build our homeland—and in the process gain a valuable perspective on life.

Other features—Armenians Finding Faith, Paths to Prayer, and Find a Local Parish—help students nourish their souls along with their minds and bodies. Through questions about Christ and the Armenian Church’s 1700-year relationship with Him, college students can move beyond the questions about what they want to become, and try to discover what they have been called to be.

While College 301 is still in its early stages, with new developments planned for the future, its success so far is certainly promising. In less than half a year, the site has been used by over 500 unique visitors and amassed a total of over 5000 hits. Its most important success, of course, is that it offers a friendly helping-hand—a voice of guidance— to college students trying for the first time to navigate the turbulent seas of life.

As Michigan State junior and frequent College 301 browser Thomas Morbitzer puts it: “I feel a particular comfort in the fact that the Armenian Church is still able to guide and help me, despite the fact that I now live away from my parents and the Armenian community I grew up with.”