By Lee Kling

A CAMPUS missionary is a job that takes passion, devotion and a strong love for a campus, and Jasmin Santos has every single one of those. Santos is a 2018 graduate of York College and currently is a campus missionary associate at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

Santos was a Psychology major going in to her senior year of college but she wasn’t always sure the medical field is what she wanted to pursue. “I loved being in college, I love being with college students, I love the experience, all the activities at school,” she says. With the guidance of her adviser, she decided to attend graduate school at NYU and get her master’s so she could pursue a career at a college or university. 

Working as a missionary wasn’t always on her radar. “I met some people who worked in Chi Alpha and was like ‘wow, what you do is so amazing.’ I grew up in church and when I was at York College, I didn’t live that lifestyle. I later realized I needed God in my life.”

In March 2020, Santos got accepted into Yale’s Chi Alpha internship program and immediately fell in love with their program and what they believed in. Santos has been there for three years and mentioned she has no plans of leaving soon.

Now, Santos works alongside Chi Alpha, which is a team at Yale University that offers things such as services such as core groups, retreats and conferences, and social events. Chi Alpha has been around for nine years at Yale University and is continuing to grow and spreading their services. 

“Every day and every week looks a little different,” she says. “I go from writing sermons, meeting with students about life, school and their relationship with God and a lot of campus outreach programs.”

Santos explains that a campus missionary associate is actually a wide variety of jobs and responsibilities. That includes things such as being a pastor, writing sermons, meeting with students about life, school, their relationship with God, spending time in prayer, and a lot of outreach.

Community outreach is one of her favorites. “We put out on campus somewhere and give out free food or drinks just to get in touch with students and try to interact with them,” she says.

She says how important it is to try and meet and build a relationship with her students. Santos mentioned that without things like that, students might not be aware of the opportunity that Chi Alpha offers. 

At the end of her day, Santos says there is always a strong message she’d like to share with people. “I want everyone to understand what it truly means to have a relationship with God. The whole world can understand truly who God is and when you fall in love with Jesus, you can change for the better.”

Santos emphasized on many of the things York College has taught her and she is very thankful for. 

“I got really involved, I joined a sorority that changed my life. I was extremely shy before coming to college,” she says. “Joining a sorority changed that trajectory, I had other women that spoke life in to me and brought me up.”

Santos says that in high school she was a very shy person, although York College brought the best out in her. “York made me fall in love with college and the college environment, taught me how to interact with college students and alumni, even adults.”

Looking back on her experience at York, it allowed her to generate good advice for college students who were just like her at one point.

“Get involved in three things, something you already know and love, get in a club that has to do with your major, get involved in something completely different, do something uncomfortable that isn’t like you.”

She mentioned the importance of getting involved and how it can truly change you as a person and your outlook on life. Santos emphasized on the idea that many students may not realize what they’re missing out on if they never get involved. 

Santos says that she is proud to be an alumni of York College of Pennsylvania and would be pleased to help anyone from York College that is looking for advice or help.

“I want to do this for the rest of my life, I absolutely love being a campus missionary,” she says.

Lee Kling is a senior majoring in Criminology.

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