Violet Tatterson

A few years ago, I asked my mom, “Why do we spend 30 minutes of our day driving from Longmont to our church in Boulder instead of driving a few minutes to go to a church in Longmont?”

I don’t exactly remember how she responded, but I remember her talking about how much this church aligned with her beliefs and morals as a progressive woman. Something about the way she explained everything hit a chord in me.

Whenever I think of this church and the impact it’s had on my life, I always think of the people and how my favorite moments have shaped my life and personality.

As a part of my faith statement I made during QuestFormation my 8th grade year, I wrote:

“Our church.
Filled with beautiful people
With beautiful smiles
And beautiful laughter
That shine through the inky darkness
Brought by hatred.
Sadness.
Negativity.”

Some of my favorite memories that relate to this poem are from ARTS Camp, a weeklong summer retreat our community sets up around a week after the start of summer break for youth from ages 8 to 14, with help from counselors ages 16 and above. The idea of this camp is to build relationships with other youth and to learn a Christianity-based play with these people in one week.

Our previous director of Christian education, Deborah Voss, used to direct other Christianity-based plays for adults, and would tell us how surprised people would always react when she told them that some random, inexperienced kids would learn a whole play in one week, with only two to three two-hour rehearsals per day. One of my favorite memories is my first time “auditioning” for the play, where you would sing any song you wanted to in front of the music director, and the whole rest of the camp.

I remember little Violet being one of the last ones to stand up after quickly glancing to her older sister with a fearful expression before singing “The ABC’s” to the group as quietly as she possibly could, as the music director gently and kindly cheered her on.

In comparison to that first year, last year’s Violet sang a section of “Get What You Deserve” from the prior year’s play, Once Upon a Parable, emphasizing the different words with a more confident approach and tone, all gained through the support and comfortability gained throughout her years attending.

That was the same girl in the same year who started crying whilst affirming her whole high school cabin and talking about the impact ARTS Camp had on her life. The same girl who couldn’t manage to shed a single tear as different groups of teary-eyed children would circle around her and where she would tell them how amazing they were as they all tried their best to hold themselves together. The same girl who shared a cabin with Amelia, Maeve, Ellie, and Magda her last year and had possibly the deepest conversations of her life leading up to that moment.

ARTS camp, as well as my entire life spent with this church, has raised my faith, my moral compass, and my interactions with the people I love. They have been nothing but welcoming and accepting to everyone who has ever stepped foot in their place of worship.

As a result, I live my life as kind, as open-minded, and as supportive as I can. I listen intently to the service, I attend Sunday school, youth choir, youth group, and youth QSA. I try my best to live up to my church’s values in the best way I can.