CMU student balances educational and religious priorities

Story and photos by Sydney Pitchford

Central Michigan University is home to many students with a variety of religious and spiritual beliefs. For many students, coming to college changes the way they feel about their religion or affects how they practice it.

Cody Schneider is a 21-year-old student at Central Michigan University. Schneider is originally from Jackson and grew up in a family that practices Catholicism. He is a senior and plans to graduate in May 2022 with a degree in psychology, with a minor is child development, as well as a minor in sociology with a focus in forensics.

“Some baseline values I hold as a Catholic is to do unto your neighbors and others as you’d want others to do to you," Schneider said. "Treat others with respect, hold life very highly, and value everyone as God’s creation and do your best to do good in the world."

Before attending Central Michigan University Schneider went to Jackson Lumen Christi, which is a co-ed Catholic high school.

“All my peers were raised Catholic. I didn’t really have a whole lot of friends outside of that that didn’t believe in Catholicism or didn’t practice Catholicism,” Schneider said. “Coming to Central really opened up my eyes to a lot of different belief systems.”

Schneider holds his cross necklace, on April 19, 2022, in Mount Pleasant, Mich. It was a gift from his grandmother and he wears it every day.

“I came from a smaller town, constantly going to church and believing that my religion is just, and everyone else is just wrong," Schneider said. "Now since coming to Central I’ve become able to accept other peoples’ religions and accept that people have different views. People will follow what they truly believe in, and if their ultimate goal is to get to the same place I’m going, why should I bash someone else for trying to do the right things?”

Being a full time college student for Schneider means juggling his course work, senior capstone projects, being a fraternity brother, relationships and his faith. This has often put a strain on the amount of time he has to practice his faith in a traditional sense.

This most recent Easter, April 17, he was unable to make it home to attend mass or be a part of his family's Easter celebration. In the Catholic religion Easter is one of the most important holidays. Until this year Schneider had always been home to celebrate with his family.

“Being a college student affects a lot of the religious holidays for me, being around school and constantly prioritizing working on stuff over taking it easy on religious holidays like what I’m accustomed to,” Schneider said.

Due to the amount of final projects and course work that he was assigned near the end of the semester, Schneider had to make the difficult decision to stay in Mount Pleasant and work on these instead of traveling home.

“It was definitely difficult and different, to not be able to go home and spend time with my family this Easter,” Schneider said.

Traditionally for Easter, Schneider and his family go to Mass, have an Easter egg hunt, eat dinner, and spend time as a family reminiscing about the past year.

“My favorite Easter memories would probably have to be from when I was little, when all my cousins, aunts, uncles, and family friends were able to come," Schneider said. "We did a huge Easter egg hunt in my Grandma’s big yard. Life was less busy and we were all able to have the opportunity to come together.”