Peer Ministry

By Emma Nguyen | Design Editor

Living out the faith as a teenager can be difficult. With all of the sports, academics and extracurriculars, making time for God can be a challenge. Luckily, we have a team of teachers and seniors who are here to make the faith appealing, accessible and available to everyone at KMC. 

Only a few years ago, after the first Kairos retreats took place in 2023, KMC’s chaplain at the time decided to start the Peer Ministry program in an attempt to keep the Kairos mindset alive within the school building, by providing examples of seniors and campus ministers who are on fire for their faith for others to look up to. This tradition has been carried on since, and the 2026-2027 Peer Ministry team is looking forward to living out their mission this year. 

“I really love that I get to experience students witnessing the way the Lord has worked in their lives and share that with their peers,” said campus minister Elise Pugh. “It is not just coming from me or [Campus Minister] Mr. [Cade] Halling, but it is actually coming from other peers that they love and respect, and I think that is really helpful and moving to see.”

The Peer Ministry program aims to get students involved in their faith through the witness of their peers, said Pugh. This mission would not be possible without Pugh and Halling, and everyone else that works hard to make it a success. As a Catholic school, faith should be the main priority in the lives of the students, and the peer ministers seek to bring that to life. 

“My biggest goal as a peer minister is honestly just to bring people closer to Christ,” said peer minister Avery Carroll. “That's everybody's biggest goal in peer ministry, but it's so important that the people here know why they believe what they believe and that they have a true encounter with Christ.”

We see the Peer Ministers as examples in faith, but they also had role models that led them to where they are today. Teachers, mentors, and older students inspired many of them to dig deeper into their faith, and in some cases these role models are the ones who inspired them to even go out for peer ministry at all, said peer minister Eli Koster.

“There were people who were just constantly challenging me to go to things, like they would ask me to go to Mass with them or adoration, and just these little opportunities to go out and actually live out the faith,” said Koster. “That really helped me kickstart my relationship with God.”

Koster aims to provide the same role model for others that past peer ministers were for him, saying that his biggest goal as a peer minister this year is to get people to live out their faith and see people smile. Carroll agreed, saying that past peer ministers played a big part in growing her faith. 

“What made me want to be a peer minister is being able to help others grow in their faith the way that other peer ministers in the past have helped me grow in my faith,” Carroll said.  “It's just such a beautiful thing and I'm so blessed to be a part of peer ministry. It is a very humbling experience and I'm really grateful for it.”

Koster added to this, saying that being a peer minister has been a humbling and rewarding experience for him. Peer ministry is a hard program to get into, as only around 30 of the 100 plus applicants are accepted. However, those in peer ministry have a close knit bond, and a faith community that they strive to spread throughout the school.