Finding Community
Carina Julig (’19) fell in love with journalism in high school. A lifelong writer, she discovered her passion after taking a journalism elective that just clicked. She chose CU Boulder partly because it offered a journalism major for undergraduates—and partly to experience something new, having grown up in San Diego.
As soon as she arrived in Boulder, Carina started looking for a campus ministry. Her youth program back home had been a meaningful part of her life, and she wanted to find a similar faith community in college. CU was a big place, and at first, it was hard to feel connected. “I didn’t really have a ton of community or social interactions outside of classes,” she recalls. “So I was definitely really hungry for that.”
She found what she was looking for through Lutheran Campus Ministry. From early welcome events—like a free Sweet Cow ice cream day in the church parking lot—to casual lunches in the dining hall, she immediately felt included. The community was warm and intentional about welcoming new people, and Carina quickly formed friendships that deepened over time.
Those relationships grew through weekly Tuesday night dinners and trips organized by LCM. One of the most formative experiences for her was walking the final 100 miles of the Camino de Santiago in Spain. “It was a very different way of living,” she says. “The only thing you had to do was walk. You just had to exist... doing that for a long period of time was really different from any type of travel any of us had done before.” That daily rhythm of walking and simply being created space for connection and reflection, and the friendships forged on that journey remain strong years later. Lutheran Campus Ministry became Carina’s anchor during college. Her LCM friends were her core group at CU—and many of them still are. Looking back, she’s grateful for the support and spiritual grounding she found during such a major transition in her life.
Today, Carina works as a journalist covering local government and politics. She’s also active in her Episcopal parish, where she serves on the vestry. As an alum, she continues to give back to Lutheran Campus Ministry as a member of the board of directors, committed to ensuring that current and future students have the same opportunity for faith, friendship, and growth that shaped her college years.
