Delighted to Empower Women

Raeleigh Joshlin
Nov 4 · 5 min read

Imagine a young freshman girl leaving high school behind and starting a new chapter in college. As a girl transforms into a woman, college is a rite of passage.

College is a place of many trials and tribulations. Sometimes juggling a social life, work and a full class load can take a toll on anyone.

If that college freshman is a religious person, it might be difficult because there is a freedom attached when entering college.

In high school, there are so many things constricting a person from the freedoms allotted when entering college like parents telling you what to do, not having money to go out and do things, and curfews. Also, if you grow up with parents who go to church, it is not hard to forget about the religion one may have, because they make you go to church with them.

College begins and young women may want a taste of that freedom they have been longing for, so they often put the religion they have in the back of their minds.

Then, the freshman may completely lose herself as a person or lose her self-esteem. Mental health is so important in today’s world, and college can dramatically affect a woman mentally.

She might start judging or comparing herself to everyone she came into contact with instead of being that once level-headed girl. That woman begins scrolling through her Instagram and comparing her body to others and doing anything to get a guy’s attention. This finds her longing for that encouragement, spiritual guidance, and comfort she once had.

Next, she hears about a new college ministry on campus helping girls just like her.

At Southeastern Louisiana University, a women’s Christian organization has taken women’s empowerment to a whole new level. It’s name: Delight.

Delight Ministries is a non-profit organization. Their mission is to reach girls on campus and tell them the love the Lord has to offer as well as loving one another. It is all about empowerment and encouragement during a very difficult time in life — college.

The organization started small when they came to campus in September 2017, but as of recent, they have touched more hearts than ever. They have meetings weekly, sometimes with snacks, in which they discuss other girls’ stories from around the country and relate it to themselves.

Caroline Lee, a senior majoring in integrative biology, is the founder of Delight at Southeastern.

Lee is on the soccer team at Southeastern and followed Delight Ministries for a while before she got the idea to start one at Southeastern. The idea did not seem realistic to her at first. She did not think she could make something that big happen on her college campus.

“It started as four of us in my living room, and now there are over 70 of us meeting every week on campus and sharing what God has done in our lives,” said Lee.

A senior majoring in kinesiology, Miranda Marquez, is one of the young women that helped Lee begin the chapter at Southeastern. “We both knew SLU was missing a Christ-centered organization specifically for women,” said Marquez.

Every year, Delight Ministries hosts a national leadership conference annually in Nashville, Tenn. This conference brings the leaders in from as far as Clemson University to The University of Portland to learn even more to bring back to their organization. At the conference, they have group sessions, bible study and a time to share tips and resources for the women to use back at their chapters. The Southeastern chapter leaders recently attended this conference and were able to come back and grow their organization into something bigger than they had before.

Adele Allen, a senior majoring in marketing, is another one of the leaders of Delight. Allen got involved with Delight this past summer and it has changed the way she carries herself completely.

“The strongest thing I have learned from this community is that when women empower one another, we have the ability to change anything and everything,” said Allen.

Religion is sometimes difficult for women when they get to college because they are swept away by freedom, but Delight is a safe space to come to and allows each girl to know that everyone is going through a struggle and they are not alone, which is very helpful in today’s society.

Sure, there are many other organizations on campus for women like sororities, but Delight offers women something bigger. Even if you have never been religious and you are just looking for hope and encouragement from other women, they offer it.

Delight offers several things for people during college as well as post-graduation. Their national office in Nashville has internships available every semester that girls from Delight that are interested in marketing, graphic design or administrative business can apply for from anywhere in the country. For postgraduate students, they have eight communities nationally for them to join. Also, if there are none close to you, they have information on their website that can connect you to community meetups near you.

Abigail Benson, a recent graduate of Southeastern, explained what Delight did for her life in college. “Delight has really shaped the way I view the world around me, and most specifically them women around me. I learned to be truly vulnerable and allow God’s grace and mercy to overflow completely into my life. I don’t know if I can ever say enough about what I got out of Delight or how much it impacted me.”

Returning to the example of the female college freshman who was unsure of herself, and begins to attend meetings, her life transforms. She is no longer that broken girl. She finally began to feel the warm embrace of her Christianity again.

She started making good grades, hanging out with uplifting people who help her be her best, and she found her way back to her religion that once kept her afloat.

This extraordinary ministry continues to change lives every semester.

Delight holds meetings every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in different locations. Their Instagram page posts weekly updates on meetings @delight_southeastern.

The Raeleigh Reporter

A blog containing college journalism pieces.

Raeleigh Joshlin

Written by

The Raeleigh Reporter

A blog containing college journalism pieces.

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