Kalee Probasco

Hometown: Minneapolis, KS

Major: English

Next Steps: Vagabond Missions

What would your life at KU look like without St. Lawrence?
Without St. Lawrence, there's a good chance I wouldn't have become Catholic. I came to the All Saints Day mass when I hit a low in my life both activity-wise and spiritually. I came because it was convenient and I knew someone who went here. Now, I'm a devout Catholic who is pursuing opportunities in mission work and intend to go back to school in a year or two to pursue a Master's in Theology. St. Lawrence truly changed my life for the better.

How are you called to continue to build community after college?
For a long time, I wasn't sure what I was going to do after college, but through St. Lawrence and all of the amazing formation opportunities that were provided, I have been called to mission work to help teens here in the US have a safe place to go where they can just be kids, and introduce them to Christ along the way. St. Lawrence has also allowed me to learn to meet people where they are to love them and I intend to use that as I continue guiding other people and myself in formation. I've learned so much about forming community with my neighbors, whether we actually live next to each other or not, and am excited to get to use that on whoever I may meet.

Who has been one of your greatest guides at St. Lawrence? How did they guide you?
Stacy Cretors has been an absolute rockstar and amazing influence on me!! I started attending Mission Formation last semester and was absolutely floored by the conversations surrounding fear, invitation, and getting to know people outside of SLC. She said something that stuck with me during my first Mission Formation that made me want to get to know her better which was "People are not thinking about you. They are thinking about what you are thinking about them." We've gotten coffee a few times and chat a lot around SLC as well as when I went on her Senior Retreat. She has provided amazing life advice, guidance, and friendship at a time where I had been looking for someone outside of college to help provide that. She's stellar and I've loved getting to know her!

Describe a situation where your faith impacted someone else.
For Lent this year, I wanted to take the spiritual adoption aspect of Fiat to the next level. I bought some rosaries and every morning have been praying one for someone I know and whenever I see them next, I give them the rosary I prayed for them. After the first week of Lent, my spriritual life had taken a bit of a hit, but what motivated me to keep doing the daily rosary and fighting through the urge to just give up and sleep in was when someone I had only spoken to a few times but had given a rosary to texted me that night and told me how much it had meant to them. Not only that, but it confirmed that they were doing the right thing by being at SLC and getting involved.