View from the Pew, July 2021: Messages from High School Grads

We had a lot of graduates this year! Three of our high school graduates - Nora Burrows, Nathan Cideciyan, and Nick Cideciyan - offer their reflections on where they've been, what comes next, and what the church has meant to them. Congratulations to them and to all of our graduates!

Nora Burrows

I am planning on going to Montgomery County Community College for a year and graduating with my Associate's degree in May of 2022. I will be working and doing freelance art in the meantime, so I definitely won't be short on things to do! After that, things are still up in the air, but I will most likely be relocating to Connecticut to start the next stage of my life and to see what exciting new opportunities await me.

As I said in church, huge thanks to our spiritual community for making a safe and welcoming space where I grew up and learned about myself creatively and spiritually. The nurturing spirit of CHUC really helped me grow as an individual, and I was able to become a part of a community that I can honestly say gave me new insight and understanding about my life and myself that I might not have gained had I not been a member of the church. I've had amazing conversations and met amazing people, and that is something I will carry with me as I move forward.

Nathan Cideciyan

I’m so excited to announce that I just graduated from Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School! Next year, I’ll be attending Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, where I will study International Affairs with the goal of creating more peace in our world. I want to thank the Chestnut Hill United Church community for all of your support over the years. This incredible place has become a second home for me. Whether I’m working on the Spiritual Life committee or struggling through a tech run for the Zoom service, the entire congregation has always been so welcoming and understanding, and I am truly grateful. Thank you all for the positive impact you have made on my life, I will miss you and this place dearly.

Nick Cideciyan

Dearest Church Community,

I want to take this moment to express my deepest gratitude for all of you. I’ve known some of you for years and some for just a matter of months. It has been a pleasure to grow up in your company as we navigated the challenges of this modern world together. I knew that if I ever needed a place to go to or a person to talk to, this community was always there for me. When I first joined this church, going to church really wasn’t my thing. I thought it was boring, and I thought it was silly. I quickly learned that this church was different from any other that I had ever stepped into. The pastors and the members really tried to engage everyone at any given service, even if that person was a seven year old hyper kid, like myself. For many years every Sunday I sat on those steps and you all listened as I said whatever was on my mind. At that moment I felt heard and I felt valued by all of you. I knew that you were “laughing with me, not at me.” I felt like an adult whose thoughts mattered. As I grew up in the church other ways to serve the church became available to me. I served on the spiritual life committee where again, whenever I said something or proposed an idea, the members really listened to what I had to say. It felt really good, and it made me so excited to contribute more. I was able to help out on the AV team and run tech for the zoom services when we went online last March. Lastly, I was a part of the confirmation class that was held in 2019. I was confirmed in this church because I knew I belonged here. I want to thank the pastoral staff who put up with a bunch of rowdy teenagers and worked with us to discover and navigate our spiritual journey. And while we have been apart for the past year, I have never felt disconnected from any of you, I want to thank you all for the immense impact you have made on my life and the lives of others. Being a part of this church is truly a gift to savor. I will take the lessons of love and hope with me wherever I go. I do hope that I will be with you all again soon. Thank you again, Lots of Love.