The Peak organization to help male students bond, grow
By Chris Miller | Staff Writer
The Peak, a men’s group started by the Lantz Center for Christian Vocations and Formation, is the brainchild of junior youth ministry major Ryan Brock. The organization is in its first year at the University of Indianapolis.
Four other men help facilitate the group and carry out the meetings: sophomores Brian Marris and Scott Blanton, junior Benton Cartledge and senior Scott Knust.
“Around the country, different schools have other vocation programs similar to ours. All these schools show that they also have low male participation,” Brock said. “The purpose of The Peak is to get men together in a safe place and help them begin thinking critically about who they are, recognizing the ways we are products of culture and then seeing who God is calling us to be.”
Other leaders of the group are equally invested in the idea.
“It gets men more actively involved with vocation-based activities on campus,” Cartledge said. “It has created a community that especially a lot of younger men on campus have bought into.”
The group meets on the first Tuesday of every month. At each meeting, there are usually four specific topics covered.
The first, “Feats of Strength”, typically serves as an ice-breaker allowing the men to participate in a group activity such as a rock-paper-scissor tournament or a chubby-bunny contest. This gets everyone involved and helps create a more relaxed atmosphere for the group.
The second portion, “Forum of Discussion,” which is specifically geared towards the cliche and over-popular views of what it means to be a man.
“We talk of an issue decided beforehand,” Brock said. “Each topic has to do with either a stereotype of masculinity or something similar and we try to move beyond that.”
The third theme is “Man Laws.” It is a manly government that is reminiscent of a parliament. This portion can be seen as the most innovative, as there is a scribe, who dons a feathered cap, writing the created man laws in the group’s “Book of Laws.” The participants share what they talked about in their forums of discussion and in a very official manner create “laws” in which they can live better lives.
Some of these laws are very serious and individual calls to change while others are just for plain fun. The purpose is to help process the previous discussion, but also have fun doing so.
Finally, the men come to “The Feast” where food is already provided. The guys spend the rest of the evening cajoling, talking and filling their man-tummies with food.
The Peak provides an experience in which men can gather together, enjoy one another’s company and strengthen relationships with one another.
“It’s not a huge movement on campus yet, but it has a small following that can grow,” Cartledge said. “It allows me to be a part of the community and gets me to know some men I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.”
The next meeting is March 3 at 9 p.m. in Good Recital Hall.
