By Jo Ann Mitchell Brasington ’89
Chaplain Fellows Mariam Ali ’28, Jose Ruiz Torres ’26 and Darcy Phillips ’27 and Geneva Kowbeidu ’26, Wofford’s Campus Union president, are still processing their experience from August in Chicago at the Interfaith Leadership Summit 2025.
Part of Wofford’s Interfaith Young Adults student group, these students are hoping to incorporate what they learned at the largest American interfaith gathering of college students and educators to inspire interreligious education on campus.
The theme of this year’s summit was Chords of Democracy, which explored the intersection of music and American democracy. Performances included traditional South Asian dances and a spoken word story by Mona Golabek, who recounted the story of her mother, a Jewish musical prodigy, escaping the Holocaust while playing the piano.
Phillips, a philosophy and international affairs double major from Leeds, Alabama, says these musical experiences impacted her, but just as impactful was how thoughtfully the conference provided space for deep discussions with other college students from across the country. Wofford was one of only a few Southeastern colleges represented.
“We’d have to answer these difficult questions or talk about ourselves with people we only met an hour ago. That was inspiring, to meet people who are actively trying to learn how to engage in dialogue productively,” she says.
Ruiz Torres says he appreciates the opportunity to learn from students in his small group from universities as large as Penn State, which has more than 40,000 students on its main campus, to Hendrix College, a private liberal arts institution with about 1,100 students that’s also affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
“I think it was helpful understanding the smaller scale of colleges closer to us and then the bigger scale of large universities with larger budgets and clubs. It helped us to see the different ways an interfaith club can operate,” says Ruiz Torres, a Spanish and international affairs double major with a concentration in Middle Eastern and North African studies from Lilburn, Georgia.
While in Chicago, the students also took initiative to enjoy the city, including a night at The Second City comedy club and a meal at Pequod’s, one of Chicago’s most famous deep dish pizza restaurants.
The Wofford students say they are eager to turn the approaches they learned at the conference into meaningful work at Wofford through Interfaith Young Adults. Under the leadership of president Maggie Wood ’28, an environmental studies major from Easley, South Carolina, the club has gained more than 30 members this fall. Wood says IFYA is hoping to help students see the religious diversity around them in the Upstate.
“Education is extremely important. The majority of students on campus might have never experienced the various faith-based interactions that may be had in IFYA,” Wood says.
“If you’re able to learn about how someone else fundamentally sees the world and what their values are, you learn a lot more about them than you would otherwise,” Ruiz Torres adds.
While its focus this semester has been rebuilding its membership, IFYA has found ways to be involved on campus. It hosted a Rosh Hashanah apples and honey event, partnered with Wofford Asian and Pacific Islanders for its Diwali celebration in October and distributed blessing bags at the All Saints Day of Remembrance Tolling of the Bell.
Wood says IFYA is still developing its spring plans, including a meditation event after Interim. It also hopes to bring members of different faith groups to campus to speak and to organize community service experiences that highlight traditions of service in different religions.
“I think that the future of IFYA at Wofford should be centered in connection and growth through outreach. I would love to connect and collaborate more with other groups on campus, especially those that support our mission,” Wood says.