Ryan Randolph

This past week, you may have noticed any of the 175 RIT students wearing “I agree with Josh” t-shirts around campus. Meet Josh.

Name, Major, Year?
Joshua Horn, fourth year Bioinformatics major and the man whose essay inspired hundreds of “I Agree With Josh” shirts on campus.

What exactly was in this essay?
The main image of the essay was a tube with a lens. In our lives, we see everything through a tube. The more we experience and the more we explore the values and beliefs of others, the larger our lens. We can see more of the world with a larger lens. I really wanted to touch on faith and why students on this campus are not willing to dialogue on its impact on our lives. Here at RIT, we are a campus where students can learn about cultures left and right, but religion and personal faith are such difficult topics to discuss.

Why do you think they are so difficult to discus here?
I think, in many ways, the career and industry focus keeps students concerned about their future more than anything else. People find one niche that they explore and stick with it. For instance, I am a biologist—more specifically, a bioinformaticist—but that’s not the only thing that defines me. I am a Christian and a writer as well. But here at RIT, they want me to be the best bioinformaticist I can be, and the students embrace that. We have great engineers, wonderful artists, amazing scientists, and skilled entrepreneurs. The dialogue about our lives, faiths, beliefs, morals and values take a backseat to the training we have right in front of us.

Do you think your essay brought that to the attention of many students?
Well, actually, it took a different turn. My essay never made it anywhere. The very end of the essay was a statement of faith; that’s the part that is taking off. This past week, Christians all over the campus were wearing “I Agree with Josh” shirts and there were signs with this statement of faith. The point of this “adventure” is to show the campus the voice of the Christian community and to encourage Christian unity. We are hoping that people will take notice and ask questions.

Did you ever expect this to happen?
A few months ago, a group of leaders from the Christian groups on campus decided we wanted to start this dialogue. They asked me to write the essay. When we couldn’t find an outlet for the essay, our plans changed and we decided to just use the statement of faith at the end. At the time, I didn’t expect to be the one person everyone would agree with concerning their Christian faith[s], but it’s encouraging, because I get to be a center of dialogue. It’s empowering to share the message of Christ with others and start a faith discussion on this campus. It’s a rare occurrence. I didn’t really answer the question, no, I never expected for this to be this large, or for me to be at its center...But it has been rewarding!

Which organizations are you actively involved in (relating to your faith)?
I am the student ministry leader for RIT’s Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM for short).

And you ’ll be giving an official talk this Friday, the 25th?
Yes. We’ll have a concert and cookout on the Gracie’s lawn at 5 p.m. Shortly after that, I’ll be sharing about my faith experience. Afterwards, there will be a response time and more music.

Are you looking forward to it?
Yes. I am very nervous about talking about something as personal as my Christian experience, but at the same time, I believe that sharing the story of my walk with Christ is an important part of who I am. And hopefully it will be an encouragement to Christians as well as other faiths to begin the dialogue.