Each year, hundreds of new students flood our South Carolina universities and colleges.

Wesley Foundations across our state have the unique opportunity to meet these students, welcome them, love them, challenge them and encourage them during their college careers and beyond. From worship to mission opportunities, students immediately are immersed in an active community of faith.

But our Wesley Foundations cannot continue our mission without connection to our incoming students. The support of our local United Methodist churches, youth groups and members is vital in connecting and building relationships with UMC students.

Many of our active leaders and students in our campus ministries were nurtured first in local churches, children’s ministries and youth groups.

“Growing up, I attended Woodland UMC in Rock Hill, where I made some of my best friends, had incredible mentors, and served my community in many ways,” says Gracie Pope, a junior at Clemson University. “I was very involved with the church but worried about how different my church family would look once I moved away to attend Clemson.

“There is a Wesley Foundation at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, so I knew to seek out Clemson Wesley once I got on campus. I have again found a special community with the best people, mentors and faith-based college experiences. I feel so lucky that there is a Methodist campus ministry that values the faith traditions I grew up with and – most importantly – feels like home.”

Clemson sophomore Tyner Jiunnies knew he would engage with a Wesley Foundation in college “because I loved my home church, Central UMC, in Florence so much!

“My mom set up a meeting for me to meet with Pastor Steve (Simoneaux) at Clemson Wesley to make me feel comfortable staying in Methodist ministry when I went to college. I felt very secure coming to Wesley because I had interacted with them long before even coming to Clemson.”

This summer and the start to the 2020-2021 academic year have been unprecedented. Without regular summer orientations or student organization fairs, Wesley Foundations are relying on our local churches now more than ever to connect and engage with our United Methodist college students.

If you know of a student entering or attending college, we would love to connect with them. Please let us know about them by completing our Contact Form.