Joel Kiernan

Joel Kiernan

Class of ’24, MS ’25 Mechanical Engineering

“Meeting people my age who were incredibly passionate about their faith was transformative for my faith. Through CLT, I’ve met some of the most grounded people I know at Stanford. Not only did CLT give me an even greater appreciation for the faith-filled community at Stanford, it also led me to helping create initiatives to help others grow in faith.”

My faith took on a new dimension in college – purely thanks to CC@S. Before college, faith was an individual or family pursuit; my home church didn't really have a youth community. That completely changed in college. Meeting people my age who were incredibly passionate about their faith was transformative for my faith. My freshman year was over the pandemic. I still remember getting a cold email from Fr. Dominic asking to chat for 15 minutes. One thing led to another, and I was logging onto Zoom every Saturday morning for a lovely discussion with a men's small group. After that year, I joined the undergraduate Catholic Leadership Team, and served there for three years. Through CLT, I've met some of the most grounded people I know at Stanford. Not only did CLT give me an even greater appreciation for the faith-filled community at Stanford, it also led me to helping create initiatives to help others grow in faith. This, in turn, helps grow my own faith. Taking an active role in my own faith, and in encouraging others' faith, is thanks to the great community and inspiration I found at CC@S.