Career Paths: Young's Plans Take a Detour
Chance to serve around the world too good to pass up
Luke Zahlmann
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Amanda Young found her calling. Then, a lifelong dream came to fruition and she found it yet again.
From adolescence, Young has known she wanted to help others. She applied to nursing school in hopes of practicing medicine either locally or abroad. After graduating from Colorado State, she applied to be a part of CU-Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus.
The acceptance call came, but her attendance never did – at least not yet – as a separate idea materialized in the spring.
During spring break, Young traveled to Fort Pierce, Florida, and playing volleyball for the Rams sent her all over the country. For the first time, she was taking a trip for something bigger, something different.
Along with developing deep, personal friendships, God was also making his way deeper into Young’s personal life. So much so, that He changed her course altogether, providing the “miracles” which have pushed a new purpose upon her.
“I remember there being moments where I said, ‘I just want to give up everything and go do this for real and follow wherever God leads me,’” Young said. “I realized that I just had so much time to live and didn’t know for sure if I wanted to be 23-years old with my full-time job already. I just was thinking, ‘If I don’t do this now, will I ever have the opportunity in the future?’”
Young’s teammate and best friend on the team, Katie Oleksak, noticed a change too. The plane which originally brought her on the trip returned with a new person.
“She came back and everyone said, ‘Amanda, you’re glowing. You’re glowing with love from God,’” Oleksak said.
The trip to the southeast coast was a building block. After the outing, Young returned to Colorado and continued to explore opportunities through Mill City Church. While the ideas formulated, several things became clear: volleyball, where Young would’ve been back as a defensive stalwart, was no longer in the picture – nursing school was also on the brink of a postponement.
Religion has coursed through Young since she was young. Raised Catholic, she spent several years practicing religion without a true goal. That was, until high school.
“I just got to a point in high school, at a pretty low point and went to church with my family,” Young said. “They did a sermon on perfectionism, and that’s something I definitely struggle with, and I had this moment where I thought, ‘I want to make this my own,’ and I want to figure out what I really believe.”
Once college arrived, Young became a part of the athlete ministry through Rams United. She became a leader in the church – all the while, she was also becoming a standout on the volleyball team, even after a rocky start.
The immaturity several thought Young projected at the start was merely a newly minted collegiate trying to find her way. She talked more than anyone on the team, but lacked a true voice among her teammates.
Underneath it all was a friend who former teammates like Olivia Nicholson and Oleksak cherished.
“When I think about it, she’s one of the most caring, intentional friends you’ll ever have,” Nicholson said. “You’ll tell her one thing that you’re struggling with or one thing that was great in your day and the next week she’ll ask, ‘Hey, how’s that going?’ Not many people do that.
“She’s very talkative, and her freshman year she talked all the time, so I think it was sometimes hard to sit down and get to know her. But over the course of her time here, she really showed she has such a big heart, and that’s something I think, even now that she’s older, everyone can see immediately.”
The same heart led the way when Young chose to temporarily bypass nursing school to head out on a mission trip once again. Instead of going across the country, she’s heading out across the world.
Adventures in Missions is an organization headquartered in Gainesville, Georgia, which allows people to chase their dreams of helping others. One of their programs, 11 in 11, allows participants to travel the globe as part of their World Race program. The name stands for 11 countries in 11 months, though a travel hiccup is going to limit the trip to 10 destinations.
“I realized that I just had so much time to live and didn’t know for sure if I wanted to be 23-years old with my full-time job already. I just was thinking, ‘If I don’t do this now, will I ever have the opportunity in the future?"Amanda Young
Their newest member is Young.
“Each place that you go to in each country has a different ministry host where you’ll stay with the leader of a church or some other missionaries from America that are staying there long-term,” Young said. “You’re doing all kinds of projects depending on what the need is in that country.”
First off, Young arrived in Huaraz, Peru to translate the Bible into the Quechua language for the first time. Next, Cusco, Peru was in need of partners to conduct work in their Calvary Chapel.
The decision to pursue the trip was an easy one for Young. The harder part was telling those around her.
Young was raised under the watchful eye of two parents who made her the center of their world. When she was tasked with telling her dad, there was a bout of anxiety she was forced to battle first.
“Because I’m an only child, they’ve always been super protective and just loved me a lot and wanted what’s best for me. I didn’t think that they would understand,” Young said. “I ended up calling my dad that day and telling him everything and at first he was really quiet… All of a sudden he said, ‘Amanda, I wouldn’t be living out my calling as a dad if I wasn’t encouraging you to do this. I totally see this in you, I’ve seen what God’s done these past couple of months, and I really believe in you and I think you need to do it.’”
The first confirmation was one of the biggest. Afterward, Young received the support of teammates like Oleksak and Nicholson, friends through her church and a bevy of family members.
“It wasn’t just a split decision like, ‘Oh, I’m going to go do this,’” Oleksak said. “She asked people for advice and had all these signs. I’m so glad she went with her heart in the end with that decision. I think it will be really good for her and I know she’s going to come back a totally different person.”
Overwhelming support was merely confirmation it was a worthwhile trip. She’s already left to start the trip, but her imprint remains in Fort Collins.
“Her hustle and her fire and desire to be good will always stick with me, in this gym especially,” Nicholson said. “When I walk in, it’s different without her, but I’ll never forget playing with her, practicing with her and that passion she had to hustle and make everyone else around her better.”
The world will now get a chance to experience the same impact Young left behind in Moby Arena.
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