CCO Campus Ministry

Home / Transformed Lives / Jessika White

Jessika White

white_jessika.jpg“The CCO helped me to learn how not to be selfish and how give of myself and my time,” says Jessika White. “I learned how to put other people’s needs in front of mine. My campus ministers gave me the confidence to pray aloud and be proud of my Christian faith.”

When Jessika first showed up at Malone College (now University), she wasn’t very strong in her faith. She first connected to the CCO when her resident director, CCO staff member Stephanie Veltman Santarosa, invited her to the Jubilee conference.

“I was not a strong Christian when I entered college, so I was not looking for Christian fellowship,” Jessika says. “I feel like my CCO staff found me. I attended my first Jubilee conference in 1998 and I have been to every Jubilee since. Jubilee was my first experience seeing so many of my peers worshipping Christ and being excited about being a Christian. Jubilee was also the first place that I learned about meshing my Christian faith into my everyday life. At the time, I was going to be a teacher, and I was excited to see how I could be a Christian teacher.”

Jessika did briefly teach elementary school after graduating from Malone, and then she and her husband, Chris, joined CCO staff themselves, working first at Kenyon College and later as support staff in the CCO’s Pittsburgh headquarters. In November, Jessika, Chris and their two-year-old daughter moved to Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, where Chris serves as Director of Outreach at Gateway Community Church, and Jessika devotes her time to being “a Christian momma.”

“We just moved here in November, but I recently met our elementary school principal because of my position with the church and our children’s ministry team,” Jessika says. “I hope to get our church involved in elementary school after-school activities.

“Being involved in a church body is a really big deal to me, and I don’t know if I would have come to that conclusion without the CCO’s influence. I feel like I spend my money and time more faithfully because of my experience with the CCO. I am really passionate about hospitality and how I treat and care for people when they enter my house, and I learned everything I know about hospitality from my CCO workers. My campus ministers welcomed me into their homes and lives. I watched them parent their children, have disagreements with their spouses and grieve the loss of loved ones. They ministered to me whole-heartedly and holistically.”

Jessika is involved in a small-group Bible study and serves as the leader for the Children’s Ministry Team. She and Chris are hosts for three Slippery Rock students—they send them care packages and have them over or dinner—and they host a monthly movie night with Slippery Rock and Grove City students.

“Without the CCO, I am not sure where I would be in my faith,” Jessika says. “I know I wouldn’t be confident telling someone that I am a Christian. I would be more selfish and I would not see a job as a calling, but only as a means of making money. I don’t know if I would think the church was important. My campus ministers really instilled in me the importance of being involved in a church and being part of a church family.”