She teaches World Religions as adjunct faculty at Nichols College. Recently, Cheryl has also developed quite the wedding ministry. She serves the Clara Barton District of the UUA as Clerk, and is a member of the district’s accessibility committee. It is rumored she writes fiction in her spare time.

She swears all of this activity serves her primary ministry on campus. 

Of her work in forming and running the Campus Ministry she has this to say: 

"The name of my community ministry is “Greater Worcester Unitarian Universalist Campus Ministries.” This group, lovingly called GWUUCM, is young itself. As its’ ultimate goal, GWUUCM works to support and sustain student run “UUClubs” on each of the twelve local area campuses. I am both the director and the minister of GWUUCM. I minister to campus based people, (students, faculty, administrators), by serving as their UU chaplain. 

The group currently provides support in a variety of ways. We work as allies, providing institutional memory for the transitioning population of academe. We secure administrative and faculty liaisons, leadership resources. We assure a pastoral presence, regular on campus worship and fellowship as well as an e- newsletter connection for all area UU students. To subscribe to the newsletter go to (http://lists.uuyan.org/listinfo/GWUUCM).

The more I interact with our UU college students, the more convinced I am of the importance of this ministry for our movement as a whole. I can’t abandon our young adults, and I find that I am not alone in that sentiment. Funding this ministry is its biggest challenge. I am delighted that so many UUs from all over the area have joined in to help. As part of this ministry, I also aim to provide a way for our many small local congregations to participate in this campus ministry mission. 

With 12 colleges the need is huge. By pooling our efforts through one central campus ministry organization we can make the dream a reality.”


Cheryl
cleshay@uuma.org