Aileen Casillas
Day as a Campus Minister
The job of a campus minister is to get to know the students and to be a mentor. They are often out and about during break and lunch and interact with different students. They are there and willing to help with any religious question we may have or if we just need advice. They plan all the different events that occur throughout the school year such as TNL, XLT, weekly mass or discipleship groups. They help make sure that everything runs smoothly during weekly mass and they sing and play at mass. They help retain a welcoming atmosphere in which in which you don’t have to be a certain religion.
Meeting the Campus Ministers
Mr. Eckert
Mr. Eckert is the head of the campus ministers. He believes what makes JSerra unique is that fact that they have four campus ministers, which is very rare to find in other schools with religious affiliations. His favorite part about being a campus minister is the discipleship groups and getting to know the students well. He loves watching them grow in their faith. He enjoys singing and playing guitar with Mr. Laubacher at weekly mass on Wednesdays. He can play bass, piano, harmonica, drums, vocal chords, and “probably other stuff”. His is in charge of making plans for retreats which are at fun locations like Oakbridge and Irvine Ranch. He wants all students to make an effort to go on at least one retreat because they are a blast. It is also a chance for anyone who has ever been curious about God to have a chance to get to know him. His favorite part of retreats is throwing water balloons in Father Damien’s face/ praise and worship. You can always find him at TNL with the rest of the campus ministers. His advice to incoming students is that you shouldn’t be afraid to come to the campus ministers and their room, to go on retreats because so many kids have been afraid and when they end up going they realize their sophomore, junior or senior year what they were missing out on. His favorite TNL memory is when he was forced to shave his sole patch because 100 kids attended XLT and that was their incentive to doing so. He also wishes that he “could be Blake Majano” and he can’t wait to get to meet all the new and incoming students.
Student Opinions
“I think that Mr. Eckert is pretty cool and really funny, overall really easy to talk to” Tara Montsero (Sophomore) | He’s really fun to be around but also knows when to be serious, which I really like Meghan Wagner (Junior) |
Honestly Mr. Eckert and I have the most humorous interactions, we joke around with each other a lot but at the end of the day I know he is someone I can trust with anything and he is never quick to judge. He keeps a so gracious about giving serious advice so I really admire how he almost has these two different sides to him. Megan D' Souza (Senior)
Meeting the Campus Ministers
Mr. Laubacher is a campus minister that is in charge of worship. He believes that worship is a universally Christian practice and that through music people can be united through a medium in which they can work together and be united. He sings and plays guitar at weekly mass with Mr. Eckert and they work with students, which have auditioned to sing with them. His favorite part of working with students is watching their lives being changed as they experience Jesus. He encourages all incoming students to get involved in campus ministry and to keep their faith strong throughout high school. He wants students to choose JSerra because “no one else has the coolest religion department EVER”. He can’t wait to meet the incoming students and lead them on awesome retreats and be able to worship with them during TNL and XLT. He loves hanging out with students during lunchtime and getting to know them better. If he were a student he would choose JSerra because there is a lot of opportunities to get to know your faith and hang out with friends that have similar beliefs as you. He always attends TNL/ XLT with his fellow campus ministers and other religion department teachers like Mr. Monette and Mr. Tuszynski. His favorite TNL memory is of nerd day and Blake Majano. His secret talent is being able to do a handstand and break dancing. He wants to let incoming students know that worship isn’t just only for Catholics but to anyone who is open to it. Overall he loves his job as a campus minister and being able to spread the faith to others.
Student Opinions
“He is funny and has a good singing voice and really cares about the spirituality of students” | “He has a lot of positive energy and is able to connect with students really well” |
He is a cool guy and he’s really fun to talk to and have a relationship with he is a bro and has a very deep devotion to Jesus and is very religious, a man of god, not as cool as Mr. Eckert. He just wants to be Blake Majano. But overall he’s my favorite person here.
-Blake Majano (Junior)
Meeting the Campus Ministers
Ms. Riley
Ms. Riley is a campus minister in charge of RCIA. RCIA stands for Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in which 16 students this year will be receiving sacraments. There are students from all grade levels participating in it, but the majority are seniors. Ms. Riley also has a discipleship group that consists of juniors. She encourages incoming students to participate in these groups because they can create intentional relationships and learn how to deepen their prayer life through gained knowledge
of the faith. Discipleship groups are formed after retreats in which students have the option to belong to one or not. Many diverse retreats are offered for all grade levels starting with the freshman retreat to Kairos, a retreat especially designed for seniors. Retreats are one of the many fun experiences that JSerra has to offer, whether you just want to deepen your faith or get away from the pressures of school a few days. She believes that all students should try going on one because many seniors regret not attending any of these fun retreats.
Her favorite memory from TNL is the old fashioned ice cream eating contest in which the campus ministers had the genius idea of replacing the ice cream with frozen mayonnaise while disguising it with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
of the faith. Discipleship groups are formed after retreats in which students have the option to belong to one or not. Many diverse retreats are offered for all grade levels starting with the freshman retreat to Kairos, a retreat especially designed for seniors. Retreats are one of the many fun experiences that JSerra has to offer, whether you just want to deepen your faith or get away from the pressures of school a few days. She believes that all students should try going on one because many seniors regret not attending any of these fun retreats.
Her favorite memory from TNL is the old fashioned ice cream eating contest in which the campus ministers had the genius idea of replacing the ice cream with frozen mayonnaise while disguising it with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
Student Opinions
I love Ms. Riley! She's super sweet and kind. She's done a great job fitting in with the other campus ministers and connecting to the students. She's a really great speaker that has a lovely sense of humor and is overall super supportive. I’m really glad she joined the campus ministry team!” -Alexa Rydell (Junior) | Ms. Riley is one of the kindest people I know and she’s a great person to be around. She’s one of my role models in the faith, because she is the perfect person to demonstrate how to be a woman of God.” |
Meeting the Campus Ministers
Mrs. Erdag
Mrs. Erdag is the campus minster that is in charge of Christian service. She works on getting all Christian service hours approved and helps sign students up for various volunteer opportunities throughout the year. She and Mr. Eckert work together to compile a list of upcoming service activities, which are posted every month on the wall outside of the campus ministry room to aid students in finding suitable volunteering activities. Due to time, Mrs. Erdag was unable to answer any further questions, as she is expecting a child this year from her recent marriage.
Personal Opinion
The campus ministers are some of the best people I’ve met at JSerra. They are older siblings to all the students and are always there for us as mentors whenever we need advice. They love having fun with us at retreats, TNL/XLT and during lunchtime. They like us for who we are regardless of our beliefs. Why? They all firmly believe that we are children of God and deserve to be loved even if we don’t believe in God or if we question him. They aren’t judgmental of our problems and genuinely want to help us. Many of them themselves discovered God while in high school and they want to give the youth of this generation a chance to do so too. I would recommend at least befriending one campus minster, if not all, because of the type of people they are. They have become my role models in the faith and made me a person that strives to make a positive difference in the world. Since it is so rare to have four campus ministers that are there all the time for us, I would want everyone to take advantage of this opportunity. One of the main reasons that JSerra is such a great place is the fun and welcoming atmosphere they have to offer all the students, whether you may be an incoming freshman or a senior that is about to graduate. I wouldn’t change a thing about them!