The co-president of the Protestant Students Association on finding meaning through faith
“I had some struggles when I came to Tufts, but people were always there for me,” said Terry Zhu. “So, my faith has taught me to be there for people.”
Photo: Andy Kwok
“Before I came to Tufts, I wasn’t a Christian. My mom would always say it’s okay if you don’t have a religion, but you should have a faith in you that you can rely on in hard times. I’ve always believed that, but I never knew if I would follow any religion. A lot of high school friends were raised Catholics and Christians. I saw their faith as something that was always there for them. That inspired me, but again, I was someone who had never read the Bible before my freshman year at Tufts.
Then, my freshman spring, one of my best friends invited me to Tufts' Protestant Students Association. Spending time with Pastor Dan [Bell] and the PSA began to give me a good foundation for my faith. My sophomore spring, I decided to be baptized.
When I’m not having a good day, to seek comfort, I talk to Pastor Dan. He’s incredibly helpful. And I have four friends I go to whenever I need anything. Two of them are in PSA and that gives us a common language. A lot of how they comfort me comes from our faith. It’s one thing for friends to speak from their personal experience, but it’s another thing to use examples from Christianity.
What does it mean to me to be a Christian? I think God wants us to spread love. ‘For God and Humankind’ is the motto of my high school, Holderness. It inspires me to think about my impact on people in need. There are a lot of ways to spread love: with our PSA, it might be through the blood donation drive we run or our volunteering at a local homeless shelter.
I had some struggles when I came to Tufts, but people were always there for me. So, my faith has taught me to be there for people. Sometimes that’s by offering support as an TA or an RA. Other times, it’s about helping others with career goals: our 180 Degrees Consulting club is a big part of my life right now, and if I help others succeed, guiding them through networking, interviews … that brings me so much more joy than me succeeding. And building community through that, too, I think that’s what God wants from me.”
—Terry Zhu, Class of 2027, co-president, Protestant Students Association
Our Tufts is a series of personal stories shared by members of the Tufts community and featured on both Tufts Now and Instagram.
