Meet our new MIC Students!

Malina and Samantha will be joining us for the 2016-2017 school year as Ministry in Context students.  This is a class that students at LSTC take and is an opportunity for students to engage in ministry in a congregational context. Malina and Samantha will be with us on a very part time basis, but you will get to know them on Sunday mornings and through their projects.  


Please read their introductory letters below and fill their First Trinity email inboxes with welcome notes for their first day :) 

Hello Everyone!

I am looking forward to spending my MIC year at First Trinity, and am excited to meet you all! My name is Malina Keaton and I am a first year Mdiv student at LSTC with an emphasis in Gender and Sexuality Studies. I grew up in Northern California and attended undergrad at California Lutheran University with a degree in Theology and Christian Leadership, an emphasis in Youth and Family Ministries, and a minor in Psychology (I usually get winded halfway through the emphasis). After undergrad I worked for a year at a camp in Santa Cruz, where I played the guitar and cleaned toilets (two skills that have proved very useful in my life), and developed a passion for banana slugs. Though it has been an adjustment, I feel very at home in Chicago and love that this place has such exotic things like actual seasons and snow. In college we actually rented a snow machine… twice. Anyways, my passions include Frida Kahlo, playing the baglamas, and writing. I look forward to being involved in First Trinity’s work for justice and inclusive community, and can’t wait to get to know everyone!


See you all soon!

Malina

malina@firsttrinitychicago.com

Hey y’all! 

My name is Samantha Nichols and I am excited to serve First Lutheran Church of the Trinity this year. I grew up in the Kansas City area which means I’m a huge fan of the Kansas City Royals, a lover of BBQ,  and I am frequently explaining to people what it means to live on the Kansas side versus the Missouri side of KC. For what it’s worth, I grew up on the Kansas side! I went to college at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri where I majored in Religious Studies and minored in Ozarks Studies. While in college, I became passionate about interfaith dialogue. Through conversations with folks from all sorts of religious traditions, I began to discern a call to ministry. Following that call led me to the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago where I am working towards my M.Div. with an emphasis on interfaith dialogue. In my short time at LSTC, I have discovered community organizing and look forward to exploring what we as a congregation can do to strengthen our community and seek justice for all of God’s creation. I can’t wait to meet everyone this fall!

Sincerely,

Samantha

Samantha@firsttrinitychicago.com