By Kate Menz, Bishop McGuinness High School, Oklahoma City
Thalia Henry is not most people’s idea of a typical 17-year old girl.
The high school senior devotes much of her time to her faith, as well as helping others around her, which is what she learned to do growing up going to The Church in Lawton.
“Personally, I hadn’t had that connection with God up until about two years ago,” Thalia said.
Instead of sleeping in on weekends, she wakes up early to teach a four-hour Sunday school class to kindergarteners, which is her way of sharing her connection to God.
“Seeing them being happy about learning about God really just inspires me,” Thalia said. “At the end of the day we can sit here and try to force religion on people and they can be sad all they want about having to learn, but whenever a kid goes into learning about faith really happy and eager to learn about it, it just brightens my day.”
Thalia doesn’t call herself religious or Christian because of the stigma that people associate with the labels.
“When I hear the word religious. In my mind, I picture rules, so I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m super religious,” Thalia said. “I call myself a Jesus follower due to the negative connotations that Christians have.”
Thalia follows the philosophy “practice what you preach,” which helps her to incorporate her faith into her daily life. She uses her faith in many of the activities she takes part in, including speech and debate at MacArthur High School or on her social media platforms. A prime example of this is her poem, “Jealousy, Jealousy,” which she presented at a speech and debate tournament.
“My poetry piece was about trying to manage being a Christian but also having sinful thoughts such as being jealous,” Thalia said.
Being a teenager, Thalia faces a certain expectation from her peers on how she should act that can contradict her faith.
“It’s hard to uphold my faith while still being a teenager because of the societal pressures that surround me,” Thalia said.
To combat this, she prays and talks to her pastors for help.
“It’s difficult, but you just get through it, just pray on it,” Thalia said. “I talk to my pastors a lot, I’m really open with them because they’re very open. They’re very accepting and they understand.”
She uses skills from speech and debate in her Sunday school class, such as public speaking, cooperation and patience with others. Thalia plans to double major in Political Science and Broadcast Journalism after high school and is still unsure where she wants to attend college.
Thalia’s faith is strong, which is one of the reasons people don’t call her typical.
