CST’s Student Trustees

Meet CST’s student trustees, Artcelynn Ruiz and Dilys Brooks!

Artcelynn Ruiz  is a 2nd year hybrid MDiv student hailing originally from Manila in the Philippines. Artcel’s family moved to the United States when she was a teenager and she is now a longtime resident of San Diego. Artcel currently serves at First United Methodist Church in Chula Vista, where she is enjoying planning worship, preaching, and playing a leadership role. She is especially passionate about outreach programs where she’s able to “follow God outside the walls of the church.”

Before feeling called to ministry, Artcel worked in corporate banking for many years. “I thought that was where I was going to retire. We were set. I thought that was my life, but God had other plans,” she explained. “I got called [to ministry] and I didn’t want to go, but I felt it in my heart that God was showing me a new way, a new door, and I had to take it. It took a lot of trust and faith in God that He would provide for us…and He did!”

For Artcel this call meant quitting her job to go back to school. Although it wasn’t easy drastically altering the course of her life and pursuing an undergraduate degree with students who were her son’s age, Artcel said, “I think I’m setting a good example for my kids [and nieces]: it’s not too late to pursue your dreams.” Artcel chose to major in communications, a foundation she’s been able to apply frequently in her ministerial relationships.

Artcel’s interest in becoming a student trustee came out of a desire to give back: “CST’s always been giving to me, and that’s why I asked how I could be of service. And I have so much passion for students too, because I know how lonely it gets, how hard it is.” In this role she hopes to continue emotionally supporting CST students and amplify their voices by conveying their pains and desires to CST’s Board. Her passion for both the school and the students has motivated her to pursue this conduit role that will allow her “to show love on both sides.”

Artcel understands the power of having supportive friends along the seminary journey:  “When I’m feeling down, I call [my CST friends] and just share with them my frustrations. And they strengthen my walk and I keep going.”

 

Dilys Brooks is a PhD student in Practical Theology – Spiritual Care and Counseling. Born in Jamaica, Dilys immigrated to the US with her family in her teens. Before beginning her studies at CST in 2018, Dilys spent more than ten years in public and private education and served as the Executive Director for the Center for Women Clergy at Andrews University. For the last fifteen years, Dilys has served as Campus Chaplain at Loma Linda University where she provides spiritual care for students, faculty, and staff; her Clinical Pastoral Education training has skillfully positioned her to care for healthcare students especially.

Dilys’s research will explore “the impact of silence for individuals who are survivors of childhood sexual trauma within a faith-spaced context.” In her conversations with students, Dilys has observed that many are in a season of navigating making meaning of things that happened in their childhood. “Then they start to ask questions about their faith and their faith community,” she explained. Dilys seeks to normalize having conversations about sexual trauma and calls upon restorative justice to bring about healing for both survivors and perpetrators.

“The person who perpetuates this kind of violence also suffers because they’re silent. They can’t get any assistance or support or accountability. Because we’re all silent,” Dilys explained. A survivor of childhood sexual trauma herself, Dilys is passionate about this “good and messy work”:  “It’s so empowering and freeing when you can say, ‘that happened to me…and I won’t be silent about it anymore.’ In my work as a chaplain, this shows up all the time…if it’s so prolific, why aren’t we talking about this thing?”

Dilys sees her time at CST as an opportunity to learn and dig deeply into this research while practicing living out her commitments. “Claremont is absolutely where I needed to be,” she said.  “What made it clear to me is the diversity of the staff and the openness to have controversial conversations—the intentionality around having the hard conversations around race, gender, sexuality. And this commitment to making room at the table for everybody, making it safe for everybody to be there.”

It can feel uncomfortable, Dilys explained, to live out such a room-for-everyone-at-the-table mindset, but it’s crucial to sit with those feelings and process them: “CST gives you space to have that conversation with yourself and sometimes you get to have that conversation with other people too. CST has really pushed me to think, to be critical, and to be reflective, and then also to understand that education is placing me at a crossroads where I get to contribute to the conversation.”

In her role as student trustee, Dilys is grateful for the opportunity to broaden her understanding of higher education, and she hopes to be a grassroots liaison between students’ “on-the-ground, live reflection” and CST as an institution:

“You get to see the worries, the concerns, the issues that are being discussed from a leadership perspective,” Dilys explained. “Being on that side of the conversation allows you to see the thoughtfulness, the creativity, and the care that goes into making CST work. It’s also given me a lot of empathy for persons serving in school leadership.”