Students explore different forms of spirituality as Culver Academies celebrates Day of Spirit

 

Poet and author Fanta Ballo got Day of Spirit at Culver Academies off to a rousing start by reciting her poetry and urging students to trust their faith, embrace failure and keep trying new things until they find their purpose.

“The more you pivot and attempt new things, the higher probability you have of becoming successful. I've failed more times than I've thrived, but I've never folded. I'm living in my third dream, and I have been more than successful,” she said.

Ballo was the keynote speaker for the fourth annual Day of Spirit at Culver, an elite leadership-oriented boarding school. Pastor LaThelma Armstrong ’09, Culver’s assistant director of Spiritual Life, said she invited Ballo after seeing her appear on “CBS Mornings” with Gayle King. Ballo immediately engaged students with spoken-word poetry that blended faith, vulnerability and gratitude.

“I’m so blessed,” she said, recounting a life shaped by prayer, perseverance and the courage to show up even in dark moments.

Ballo, who is from Harlem and whose parents are from the Ivory Coast, spoke openly about anxiety, depression, imposter syndrome and unrealized dreams, including an early passion for basketball that never materialized. She told students about starting college at age 15 and feeling invisible despite having put in the same amount of work as her peers.

“So I sat in the back of the class, praying the teacher didn't call on me. I didn't jump into much of the student-led discussions. I tried my hardest to be invisible because I thought that I wasn't worthy of being seen,” she said.

She said she prayed for clarity and began to understand why she was so fearful. That reflection led her to challenge students to think differently about disappointment and rejection.

“How do we handle ourselves when our dreams fade? What do we do when the thing we wanted the most doesn't work out? When that door you thought was open for you, once it was your turn to walk through, somebody changed a lot. What do we do? Or the better question is: How do we turn rejection into resolution, disappointment into discovery and loss into a learning experience? See me? I'm a dreamer,” she said.

Ballo told students she spent summers in college interning with asset management firms and investment banks. After graduation, she landed a well-paying corporate banking job with benefits but said it didn’t bring fulfillment, calling it a job that “looked right on paper but felt wrong at home.”

Instead, she went all-in on poetry, eventually opening for singer Shawn Mendes and self-publishing her book, “For All the Things I Never Got to Say.”

She encouraged students not to stay “in a place God has already shown you that you’ve outgrown,” and closed with poetry focused on alignment, gratitude and survival.

“When I let go and let God,” she said, “I found myself on the other side.”

 

 

Deacon Mike Madison reinforced that message, reminding students that faith and community carry people through difficult times.

“No matter how low we can be, we are worth something,” he said. “And our faith will help bring it through, or what we believe in, the people we surround ourselves with. They make a difference in our lives.”

The Day of Spirit, with the theme of “Rooted in Joy” kicked off Wednesday night when students from the 11 spiritual life weekly service programs gave presentations about their services. Here are some samples of what students took part in.

Interdenominational Christian Chapel: 

By Isabelle Suen

Interdenominational Christian Chapel is an excellent space for fostering friendships and building a closer community. Everyone is welcome to participate in the service, regardless of their background. For some, they joined not because they were religious, but because they wanted to explore a new faith with friends. By being able to experience unity and connection together, students built ties with their peers and developed lasting bonds in their lives. 

Light was a recurring theme throughout the service, representing Jesus’s presence in our lives. Pastor Armstrong says we must let that light shine within us and be the image bearers of God. The praise band performed songs such as “My Lighthouse” along with others that reflected the message of light. Overall, Interdenominational Christian Chapel is a refreshing experience and provides meaningful insight into our lives. 

Guided Meditation

By Max Mai

Imagine being in a room with beautiful sounds playing in the background, meditating and relaxing. As the practitioner played the instrument, it created a soft calm vibration that helps you unwind. This sound bath meditation provided the students a chance to clear away all the clutter that they had in their mind. The soft and rhythmic tones allowed everyone to be in the present moment and enjoy.

This relaxing journey was led by two student leaders, and guided everyone throughout the session. While the students relaxed with the beautiful music, the student leaders provided us with some questions we could think about. We reflected on ourselves and thought of ways we could be better. The mix between the magical sounds and the mindful guidance helped everyone in the room to relax. By the time the sound faded, the room felt lighter and everyone was felt more centered and refreshed.

Jewish Services

By Ben Levinson

Every Friday night at 7 p.m. a lesser-known group at Culver sits down and takes a moment to practice traditions and sing songs that have been kept alive for thousands of years. The Culver Shabbat Service is the campus's Jewish service and is attended by 20-30 members every week. For 45 minutes, Culver’s Jewish students recite prayers, learn about the Torah, and eat challah. For many, it serves as a home away from home, and students who visited the service’s meeting on Wednesday got to see a glimpse of what shabbat service is all about.

While you cannot have a Friday Shabbat service on a Wednesday, visitors watched videos about the service’s main prayers like the Amidah and Aleinu, what Shabbat is, and listened to some of the Jewish students sing songs. The service continues to represent a community for Jewish and non-Jewish students at Culver, and is a great way to wind down on a Friday night.

Philosopher’s Café

By Audrey Su

Philosopher’s Café is a regular weekly Sunday service at Culver that enables students to reflect on their lives and the lives of others from the standpoint of various philosophical traditions, both ancient and modern. On spirit day, the service took place on Wednesday night. Led by the usual members and adult leaders, students divided into two big groups and talked about their opinions on real-life moral dilemmas through civil discourse.

One group anchored its discussion in the concept of the bystander effect, citing a case in which a 2-year-old child was struck by a car and left injured while three passersby failed to intervene. The conversation opened with the question, “What do we owe strangers?” prompting students to examine the tension between trust and responsibility: how far one should go to help others, and where to draw the line between meaningful intervention and ordinary civility.

Unitarian Universalist Service

By Ryan Chen

The Unitarian Universalist service I attended included three different groups:  a Buddhist service, meditation free-writing service and a Hinduism service. What stood out to me most was the variety of ways people can reflect and connect with spirituality. Each part had a different atmosphere, but all of them encouraged personal reflection. Experiencing these traditions together helped me better appreciate the diversity of religious practice and the different ways people search for meaning.

Spiritual Activities

On Thursday afternoon students took part in a wide range of activities, ranging from climbing a rock wall and Zumba to cooking and community service.

“Spirit and faith are not just what happens in this space,” Armstrong said. “They are about the way we live, how we use what we’ve been given, and how we show up for one another.”

 

Here are some stories about the diverse sessions students had the opportunity to attend Thursday afternoon:

Aquatic Ecosystem Landscapes

By Ben Levinson

While building homes for fish might seem like an odd hobby, to Culver’s very own science department chair and science teacher Chris Carillo, Ph.D., it is more than that. To him, it is a chance to relax and slow down, admiring and perfecting intricate artwork and science. Carillo first got into aquatic ecosystem landscapes at 13, which came from watching TV shows about Jacque Cousteau and his underwater documentaries.

 “It helps me to unwind during the day.” said Carillo, “just come build yourself an aquascape and you’ll feel the joy”. Clearly a passionate man, Carillo’s dedication to the craft is admirable, and his intricately designed aquascapes clearly reflect that. 

Mailing Roots: A letter writing workshop

By Annie Song

With the development of technology and social media, fewer and fewer people use handwritten letters to express their emotions. Now, paragraphs of words could be summarized into a single emoji. It is convenient and efficient; however, can it truly replace the traditional forms of communication? Addressing an audience of teenagers, the workshop kicked off with a question for the student: how long has it been since you last received or wrote a handwritten letter?

Letters are not only made up of words. They are the medium that carries love from families, friends, or even strangers. During the workshop, students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the art of letter writing. Some expressed their love to their families, and some wrote to friends back home. They decorated their letters with drawings and carefully put them into envelopes. In the end, some students chose to mail their letters out. Through this workshop, students rediscovered the traditional way of expressing emotions, realizing that a handwritten letter can communicate much more than what a simple emoji can.

 

Nourishing Ground with Tai Chi 

By Eason Wu

 I went to Tai Chi with some of my friends. It was a really nice experience for me; I was able to enjoy a moment of peace and feel the connection with nature. I learned some Tai Chi moves and the teacher taught us about the principles behind it. I enjoyed the calmness while doing Tai Chi in nature, and I am willing to do it by myself during my free time in the future. 

God just wants us to be happy

By Isabelle Suen

The “God just wants us to be happy” workshop encompasses Culver’s ‘find joy, fuel joy’ theme along with God’s intention for his people. In the discussion, students reflected on the meaning of joy and discovered that while happiness is temporary, joy stays permanent in our lives. God wants people to find joy, not happiness. Students also learned that God shapes us as people, not our circumstances, as was shown through multiple verses from the Bible. 

This workshop opened new perspectives on joy and its presence in our daily lives, despite the challenges that will inevitably present themselves throughout life. Joy doesn’t ignore suffering but coexists with it. However, although spiritual growth is not always comfortable, it is always purposeful. By uncovering the true nature of joy within faith, students were able to shift their outlook on life in spite of hardships or adversity.

 

 

Making a Knotted Rosary

By Sophie Xu

In this session, we were taught how to make a pray a rosary, a necklace that guides Catholic believers through praying their prayers every day. We were taught what each bead on the necklace represented in the Bible, and which days we were meant to pray each prayer. Next, we each attempted to make our own rosary with rope. It was a pretty challenging process, as we had to each knot all more than 50 beads. Keeping them evenly spaced was difficult too, though some were able to finish because of the weather hold.

Roots We Hold: A Collaborative Clay Storytelling Workshop

By Ryan Chen

During this workshop, I had the chance to play with clay with other group members. We initially had a goal of making a pyramid, but instead of focusing on making just one finished object, we explored many different ideas and even some random ideas like a human face. I found that the most enjoyable part was not necessarily the final product, but the freedom to experiment, collaborate and discover new possibilities.

Mormon/Facing Adversity

By Sophie Xu

In this session, we learned more about Mormonism with Mr. Mumau and two Mormon missionaries. We learned about the Mormon's undergarments and the differences between Mormonism and Christianity. The Book of Mormon, which Mormons read in addition to the Bible, was translated by Joseph Smith, who had been guided by zn angel named Moroni to find golden plates containing the writings of ancient American prophets. As a parting gift, we were all given a Book of Mormon.

Water Ecosystem and Aquatic Life 

By Brad Huang 

In the “Water Ecosystem and Aquatic Life” creative session, students designed their own aquatic ecosystems in tanks. I chose a mix of plants and arranged them carefully to create a balanced environment, thinking about how each element would interact. It was interesting to consider how soil, space, and plant placement all affect the health of the ecosystem. The process felt both calming and creative. The activity was a refreshing break from routine and a meaningful way to reflect while creating something tangible.