Emma Willis, a freshman majoring in worship leadership, leads the student group Whisper in the Bowld Student Commons room 247 on Thursdays from 5-6 p.m. Whisper is a student-led group that focuses on deepening mundane relationships into impactful friendships through meaningful conversations.
“Our main goal is to bring people who are isolated out of isolation,” Willis said. “And the way we go about that is by having wonderful conversations.”
The idea for Whisper, Willis said, came from a middle and high school group she was a part of created by Bryan Davidson which helps students learn to destigmatize struggle and support one another in personal growth.
“There’s a lot of programs at schools where teachers and administrators do what is called a ‘shout method,’ where an adult is telling me what to do and how I should grow,” Willis said. “The difference with Whisper is that it is a grassroots campaign, so it comes from the student for the students. So, it is called Whisper because it isn’t ‘hey, you should do this’, but ‘have you heard about this?’”
Willis started the group this year with Isaac Smith, freshman Christian ministries and missions major, after noticing that there was a deficit of deeper conversations at college, and with the help of other students Whisper began to meet in order to grow in relational skills such as listening and encouragement in a like-minded community. Now, a year later, they are working through the idea of approval, and how it affects relationships.
“We will start the meeting with a news reporting, talking about how we did, whether good or bad, and discuss the current topic,” Willis said. “We will then usually have a challenge at the end, and close in prayer. That is my favorite part. Back when I did this in a public school setting that wasn’t allowed, so this is so cool.”
Her faith has impacted the perspective Willis has on this group and its purpose. Not only is it for other Christians, but it also helps in sharing her faith with those who are not Christians. She sees this as a potential missions opportunity, if you just keep your eyes open.
“A lot of the time, I think we are afraid of sharing our hope with others,” Willis said. “This just helps break that down on how we can reach out to them to share the gospel more.”
Currently, the biggest goal Whisper has is getting word out about their group. So far, she says, they are relatively small, as they are a new group. Having more people join will enable them to host their own events and outreach programs which they do not have the manpower for now. In short, they want to see their platform grow so they can share their message.
According to member Emma Peak, freshman applied linguistics major, Whisper will affect the lives of anyone who joins. It is not for any one type of person — all are welcome.
“I recommend this group to anyone,” Peak said. “The goal is to bring everyone together. And when we say everyone, we mean everyone. Whether you are a sports person, an engineering person, a physics person or an art person — we don’t need to feel like we need to have more of a commonality than that we are people who need people, and that is the reason for this community.”
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