A Leap of Faith: Emma’s Ascend Story
I started my Ascend journey a little differently from other people. I already had two years of “box school” college under my belt—and it very nearly destroyed my faith. Surrounded by people and professors who not only didn’t know God, but in some cases actively sought to dismantle students’ faith, I felt lost. After growing up homeschooled in a Christian household, I was unprepared for the wave of information that seemed so contrary to my beliefs. Who am I meant to be? What is my calling? The culture around me told me that professional success and financial security was the only way to get ahead in life, and I believed it. But soon enough, those things began to ring hollow. I had a lot of questions and few answers. In the spring of 2023, I was actively avoiding God.
My Mom worked her Mom magic and found Unbound’s Ascend program through methods that are still a mystery to me. I watched a couple of webinars, but was still on the fence. I created a list in my mind of all the reasons not to enroll. I had never flown alone on a plane before. I didn’t know what to expect at all these strange, new events. I already had most of my general credits under my belt as well as upper-level courses completed for my major—I would be joining an unaccredited track, and as someone who valued academics, GPAs, and test scores, the concept clashed with my idea of “success.” At the time, Ascend seemed like a step backward in terms of linear progress, not forwards.
What won me over was “project-based education”—just doing something, anything, something meaningful and true to your interests, something that makes an impact. I spent most of college sitting at a desk, listening to information, regurgitating information dutifully, and then writing academic papers on information that had zero bearing in “real life.”
And so I swallowed my fear and enrolled in June. I took a leap of faith. And boy, oh, boy, did Ascend change my life.
After a shaky but passable trip through the airport and one anxiety-ridden plane ride later, I landed in Michigan, where APEX was being held. What immediately rocked my world was the community—a hundred young adults who just get it. If you’re homeschooled, do you ever have to go into the diatribe with strangers and relatives about how, no, you’re not socially stunted, and yes, you do get homework, and, yes, you’re also Christian? My first day at APEX, they knew and understood. Their experiences mirrored mine in a hundred different ways. I met complete strangers who immediately poured into me in little conversations about faith and life, and it blew me away.
Then there was my team—people I now consider to be some of my closest friends. Throughout the Ascend year, they have uplifted me, encouraged me, knocked sense into me, and continue to support me. And I am able to do the same in ways that I never could before. As someone with a tendency to push people away, slowly and carefully they made their way into my heart. We have shared stories of our own losses and triumphs, from APEX to Capstone. And on the way, they demonstrated God’s character to me—their courage in the face of hardship, their love in the face of sorrow. My team, but also every other team, and every other student—I was stunned, and still am, by their powerful faith in the Lord. It was a faith I still hope to emulate, faith that shaped and formed my own foundation in God as the months passed. Somehow, I learned to draw nearer to God and His plans for my life when witnessing the wonderful Christ-likeness of my own team.
My team was incredible, but my coursework supplemented their personal engagement with mental discipline. “What is my purpose in life? What can I do about the cultural decay of my peers? As a Christian, how am I meant to live in this day and age? Is there any hope?” The questions I asked in doubt and hesitation were answered with certainty: Today, here and now, carry yourself with grit and resilience. Leadership is a privilege and a necessity, not a burden. Ask hard questions. Don’t run from adversity. Failure is an option—face it, learn from it, get up, and try again. Do something, anything, and continue to build your skills and experience, because there is no bad experience, only a lack thereof. You are made in the image of God. As a child of God, be extraordinary at the ordinary things in life. We dug deep and asked hard questions, from Socratic dialogues to various projects. The coursework wasn’t difficult, but it was meaningful. It made you pause and think about what makes a great leader, leadership development, leadership communication, time management and financial literacy. Things I never learned in university, accredited track or not.
Finally, the project. My personal swing vote. It was the deciding factor for whether I would enroll in Ascend, and so I knew before the first event that I wanted to do something meaningful, something that stretched my comfort zone. It took a lot of brainstorming, and I decided to hold a chili cookoff competition for my parents’ restaurant, in part to promote other upcoming menu specials like smoked burgers and pork belly. It didn’t go perfectly—I faced the major challenge of drumming up competitors to actually compete in making chili, and on that front, my efforts fell flat. I, and my parents, had to pivot a couple of weeks before the event, turning it into a showcase of my parents’ restaurant and their new menu items. I had to confront my shortcomings and failures head-on. And without my family’s support, the event itself likely wouldn’t have come to fruition. Even if the end product didn’t meet my initial vision, I learned to confront my shortcomings head on. My team aided me throughout the process as well—hearing about their awesome projects and their progress energized me to see my project through to the finish line.What do we value? What is our purpose? Who are we meant to be? In a culture that celebrates moral deterioration and prioritizes empty effort over the pursuit of purpose, Ascend is the answer to my generation’s burning questions: we are made in the image of God. And because we are made in the image of God, we are set apart. We’re called to arms. We are called to make a difference. We, as a community, as a family, are Unbound. And for anyone asking questions, Unbound might just have the answer.
