Courtney Sells

Courtney hails from Livingston, Tennessee. A church camp enthusiast since the 2nd Grade, she grew up at Bethany Hills where Peace Interns where often on staff. “Their passion for camp ministry and how it effects the world around us sparked a fire inside of me,” she writes. A Junior at Centre College majoring in English, she joined her school’s study abroad program in Strasbourg, France (home of the European Court of Human Rights) where she worked on human rights cases. Last summer Courtney served as an Intern at Christmount where her passion for sustainability and environmental justice deepened. Her experiences as a HELM Leadership Fellow have further equipped her as an advocate for justice, particularly around issues of mental health as well as addiction. As an avid hiker she has climbed 25+ mountains in the last four years!

Elsie Croasdale

Elsie is a Junior at Eureka College majoring in History & Political Science (Pre-Law). She plans on attending Law School in order to become a Civil Rights and Human Rights lawyer. A native of  Mapelton, Illinois, in her application she wrote “my church was the first place that I felt truly connected to a social justice calling.” That passion for social justice and servant leadership has defined her time at Eureka College where she serves as Student Body Vice President and is a student rep on the college’s Inclusive Excellence Working Group (which seeks to build bridges and celebrate all forms of diversity on campus). As a Reagan Leadership Scholar at Eureka she has volunteered as a church Youth Group Leader and a Crisis Counselor with the Crisis Text Line. Her freshman year she joined Eureka Christian Church’s delegation to the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. 

Heidi Holgate

Heidi grew up attending First Christian Church in Glasgow, Kentucky. Her home church camp is Camp Kum-Ba-Ya. Completing her Junior Year at Western Kentucky University, she is studying English (Creative Writing) with a minor in Film Studies. At WKU she serves as a peer mentor and tutor for students on the Autism spectrum. This past summer she served as a Youth Development Counselor at The Center for Courageous Kids, a residential medical camping facility that serves children living with a terminal or life-threatening illnesses. About that experience she writes, this camp “showed me that our unique traits are to be embraced and that a vast amount of joy can grow from a place of acceptance and celebration of our differences.” Heidi loves to read, paint, write, and be outside any time she can. She confesses that she is obsessed with Fred Rogers and the Enneagram!

<<< Meet the 2020 Peace Interns!