Associate Director of the Penn Women's Center Gloria Gay says that between the exams and parties, college needs to ground and instill values in students.
"This isn't playtime," Gay said to members of the Religious Life Liaison group in an intimate setting Monday night. "This is a serious reconstruction period when you learn about yourself."
The liaisons work with the college houses and the Office of the Chaplain to develop an interfaith and ecumenical religious presence and create a greater sense of religious community campuswide.
But Gay -- who is also an instructor at the School of Social Work -- has noticed that students at Penn these days appear to be in a "race for life."
"I don't feel like the student is center anymore," she said. "It feels like a corporation."
Gay's response is rooted in her beliefs.
"Spirituality is first," she said. "You can fall back on it; it holds you up."
"I prefer 'spirituality,'" Gay added as she addressed the members. "It's a lot broader; people don't necessarily identify with 'religious.'"
Gay was brought in by the Office of the Chaplain to relate how her role and experiences on campus encompass her decisions and values.
"I've found that if you're spiritual, you take risks, venture out," Gay said. "Students sometimes don't even realize they're searching for spirituality; they just want to be grounded."
Gay has had over 25 years of experience counseling and interacting with Penn students, and points to the University as the most important place for self-realization.
"Campuses are very unique," she said. "You come in as an adolescent and you leave as an adult. What happens here impacts the rest of your life."
In college, many students are faced with making decisions about their lives for the first time.
"Before, they were adolescent decisions," Gay said. "Am I going to be good, or am I going to be a little bad, or really bad?"
The communities students build and the faith they choose help guide them into adulthood. The base they create in their college years can carry them through for the rest of their lives, according to Gay.
Teresita Hurtado, a second- year student in the School of Social Work, can already see the effects of her undergraduate years.
"My freshman roommate is like my sister," she said. "She calls me at least once or twice a week, more than even my family. We became linked because of shared faith."
An important part of college development is learning to accept people "for who they are," Gay said. "Being challenged and re-evaluating are part of building the self."
"It's easy to be with people like me," College junior Christine Myers said. "It's important to be challenged by people who are different from me, who don't necessarily share my beliefs."
