Jake arrived at the University of Colorado Boulder ready for his freshman year. Having completed the International Baccalaureate program in high school, he quickly discovered that he could manage the demands of his coursework in the Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology and Molecular Chemistry departments—and still have time to adjust to college life and enjoy himself. For Jake, that often means baking. He even drafted a proposal for a new club, Pastry Buffs, dedicated to creating pastries.

At the university’s club fair, Jake noticed a table with the word “Bread” on the sign. “I decided that sounded like a good place,” he reflects, “so I walked up and learned about what Bread+Belonging was and how it worked.”

Durango (‘18) came to the University of Colorado from a high school with a graduating class of just over thirty students. The sheer scale of the university population was a shock for him, and the culture was very different from his hometown. “I was looking for a church community,” he remembers, “[and] I needed a place that felt like it was more manageable to make friends and connections.”

It’s safe to say that Sarah is a busy person. A junior at the University of Colorado, Boulder, she is a double major in biochemistry and molecular biology, with a minor in Spanish. Along with working in a lab and playing the cello in the campus orchestra, she manages to make time to get outdoors to hike, cross-country ski, and simply enjoy the beauty of the mountains. Even with all that, she makes it a priority to attend the Bread+Belonging dinners on Tuesday evenings.  

Growing up in the Colorado mountains, Zoe has always loved the outdoors. When she visited the University of Colorado in Boulder, she knew it was where she wanted to go. Now a sophomore, she is a double major in psychology and religious studies. “I was worried it was going to be too big at first,” she said, “but it doesn’t feel so big, I think, because we are so close to nature. It doesn’t feel overwhelming, and you can find your own people.” 

As a kid, Nieves always thought she would be a doctor. But after realizing open wounds were not her thing, she settled into studying accounting and finance. Math and numbers just click for her, and she’s excited to use her skills to support communities and nonprofits as part of her career. Beyond the business world, she’s passionate about sustainability, loves thrifting, and has a heart for service.

Kevin (‘20) took his faith seriously as a teen, but he didn’t expect to be that involved in church when he headed to college. As a freshman, Kevin and his good friend and roommate agreed to try to find a place to go to church together. After much arguing, they settled on St. Aidan’s Episcopal, a compromise between Kevin’s Roman Catholicism and his roommate’s Lutheranism. There they were invited to Bread+Belonging, and from that first Sunday “the communities of St. Aidan’s and Bread+Belonging grabbed us and pulled us in,” Kevin remembers, “and we never left.”

Rudi is a living example of a “Renaissance human.” A senior at the University of Colorado, Boulder, he has a double major in English and Statistics and is working towards a certificate in Geographic Information Systems. “It is,” he says, “a lot of work, but fun.” In his spare time he enjoys biking around, cooking recipes from the 17th and 18th centuries, and creating things with his hands, currently by crocheting and embroidering. 

Rudi came to Bread+Belonging in a roundabout way. Friends in another campus group that he was part of came to B+B regularly and stubbornly kept inviting him. About a year and a half ago, with an open timeslot on Tuesday evenings, he finally came.