Looking back...

When I first became involved in the Kansas City Interfaith Youth Alliance, I never imagined how much of an effect on my high school life that it would have. It wasn't just the number of events that I attended, or the amount of service projects that I attended, it was the individual connections at each events, both with new people and people that I had know for many years.


The second KCIYA event I ever remember attending was when KCIYA went to the 3HO Kundalini Yoga Center and met with Sat Tirath Ashram to learn about the Sikh faith. I think that was one my first encounters with a faith that wasn't my own, or wasn't Christianity. It was amazing how some of the practices were similar to my own faith, and how many people of different faiths had come and gathered to listen. But, the thing that I most remember about that meeting was that I made a new friend. We talked about our different faiths for a while, but then we also just talked too. And it wasn't just then, we kept in touch for a while after that-at different KCIYA meetings and even sometimes outside KCIYA meetings. That was one of the reasons why I kept going back, I loved meeting new people and making new connections.

Much, much later, I began volunteering at a Kansas City Urban Youth Center with one of my friends who was one of the key people for getting KCIYA started. We decided to support KCUYC for our senior service project after volunteering with it with KCIYA a couple of times. Volunteering at the Urban Youth Center was one of the most eye-opening experiences I had. On our car rides back from the center, my friend and I would reflect on our experiences working with the kids there, which made us grateful for our education and realize that education was one of the key factors that was separating us from the children that were a part of that after-school program. There was one girl in particular who I worked with, who was very talented and good at reading, but only when she was encouraged to push herself. Not only was this project a reflection on the inequalities of education, but also it was something that made me grow closer to my friend because we started talking about issues that we had never talked about before. 

Which, in short, is what KCIYA is all about. It is about meeting new people and talking about issues that aren't usually talked about with the people that you hang out with. And that is another one of the reasons that I keep coming back. I believe in the power of conversation between different people and I believe that conversations that occur because of KCIYA interactions helped me to grow as a person.