New YALD Coordinator Rachel Stacy shares her inspiration for Young Adult Leadership
Rachel Stacy, a graduate student at Earlham School of Religion, former high school chemistry teacher, and very active Friend, will coordinate Pendle Hill’s summer 2010 Young Adult Leadership Development (YALD) program.
YALD Coordinator Rachel Stacy
Twelve participants from diverse backgrounds have been accepted into the YALD program. They include an architecture student from Oregon, a photographer from Bangladesh, a percussionist from Colorado, a Kenyan business/information technology student, and eight others looking forward to a summer of service, community, and spiritual growth.
Rachel will be assisted by Guy Aiken, who just completed his MDiv at Lake Forest University. Support will also be provided by the other members of the Summer Education Program team, including La Verne Shelton (spiritual nurturer), George Owen (Quakerism teacher), Kacey Alexander (arts and spirituality teacher), and Kitt Reidy (intern supporting the student experience).
The YALD participants working in the Pendle Hill greenhouse
In this interview with Lauren Baumann, Rachel Stacy shares her background and her vision for YALD.
Rachel, what is your vision for this summer’s YALD program?
RS I'm hoping to bring a diverse group of young adults together in community to learn from each other and support each other in growing as leaders. The program encourages the participants to explore their gifts of leadership in a wide range of settings. The class that I will be teaching the participants will look at these gifts as part of the spiritual foundation necessary for sustainable leadership. I know that the community will challenge each other and each person will walk away from the program with a stronger idea of what he/she can offer the world.
Quakerism teacher George Owen
What Quaker leadership experience do you bring to the YALD program?
RS I worked on the planning and programing teams of the World Gathering of Young Friends (WGYF) in 2005. Although this was not my first experience serving in Quaker leadership, the large scale production and international cooperation of the WGYF taught me many skills and sparked in me a passion to work in diverse communities. I have since served on the boards of several different Quaker organizations and now offer my leadership and organizational gifts to the wider ecumenical community.
What is the focus of your studies at the Earlham School of Religion?
RS My Masters thesis and supportive coursework focuses on inter-religious dialogue and the stories that inform how we interact with people unlike ourselves. I hope to research the human development of imagination and how stories that have been used to harm in the past can be re-imagined to support constructive interfaith relationships.
Spiritual nurturer La Verne Shelton
How has your involvement with your Friends meeting and young adult Friends influenced your spirituality?
RS My experiences with the diversity of Friends has challenged me on many levels. I have learned how to lead both from my experiences and in service of the needs of the community. Sometimes these two things do not match, and in that conflict I have learned a great deal about leadership and community development. I have been challenged by more evangelical Friends to reconsider Christ, and over the years my own theology has evolved and flourished. The diversity of Friends has opened my eyes to great beauty both in different traditions and different communities. I find myself more and more in the middle of the Quaker theological spectrum and lately, I have found that to be a gift in working with the wider world.
More information on YALD (The 2010 program is full. Pendle Hill expects to offer YALD again in the Summer of 2011).