Rather than sleeping in on a weekend morning sophomore year, senior Steven Tulley prepared for his first Sunday mass at Corpus Christi Catholic Church. As Tulley and his mother walked in the church as strangers to the church community, Tulley could only recognize two or three faces of classmates.

“It was weird at first,” Tulley said. “You feel uncomfortable at first.”

Tulley, now a confirmed Catholic, said that before that first Sunday mass he “really had no clue what religion really was.”  Tulley said he had been agnostic, which he defined as believing in a god, but not knowing what form god came in. After attending becoming comfortable at church, he enrolled in the Corpus Christi youth confirmation class.

Tulley wanted to explore the same faith as his father, who passed away when Tulley was six months old. His father’s side of the family was Catholic, but Tulley had grown up unaffiliated with religion along with his mother.

“I wanted to get a feel of what my dad was like, what he lived for, and why his family stuck with Catholicism,” Tulley said. “My mom always told me when my dad was younger they went to church every weekend.”

Tulley went into the confirmation class knowing close to nothing about Catholicism, and felt lonely because his classmates knew all about Catholicism when he did not.  but received support from friends and mentors within the program.

“That drove me to do research and catch up on what other people knew,” he said.

Tulley also found a place within the church community that he had been a stranger to. Tulley said everyone at his church knew each other since kindergarten and there were few outsiders.

For the next two years, Tulley met with his confirmation class every three weeks to learn about Catholicism through lectures, discussions, and games.  He discussed past sermons with the teen-led group, and also prepared for the confirmation ceremony. Tulley’s aunt, who is Irish Catholic, sponsored him during the process.

Tulley questioned at times whether or not he wished to continue with the program, but decided that he wanted to stick with it after staying with the class for the first months.

“It wasn’t too hard, plus I had the help of others and I think the help was the best part,” Tulley said, referring to his confirmation teachers and youth leaders.

Last April, Tulley was baptized then confirmed at Corpus Christi. Tulley’s paternal side of the family held a party for him, and Tulley said they were proud of him.

Since then, Tulley said his mother has begun attending church with him every weekend for a month. He said his journey inspired her to explore religion as well, and now she attends an adult confirmation class in preparation to convert to Catholicism.

“I guess she likes the values of being a Catholic and she wants to go with it,” he said.

Tulley said becoming a practicing Catholic has expanded his perspective on those who are less fortunate.

“It puts you in the place of “there’s other people in the world who have it worse than you do,” Tulley said. “I guess helping others is a key point I’ve learned.”

Tulley said his church holds charity events every week from serving the homeless to collecting toys for children.

Tulley also said the influence of Catholicism has led him to be more thoughtful of his actions.

“I think twice about before doing something if [it’s] something that doesn’t feel right,” Tulley said.

Though Tulley is still new to Catholicism, he is already looking to teach others about his new faith. Tulley is now volunteering as a youth leader to the confirmation classes at his church. He said that the youth leaders helped him so much that he feels the need to return the guidance.

“There are a lot of kids so I probably can’t make a difference in all of their lives but you can definitely help a few and that’s better than helping none,” Tulley said.

Similarly, Berkeley High School senior Sierra Lash found her faith after years of removal from her paternal religion. In the sixth grade, Lash decided to prepare for her Bat mitzvah, and began learning about Judaism. Lash’s father is Jewish and her mother is Daoist, but she said both her parents were removed from religion by the time she was born.

“I would say I was religiously inclined but I didn’t go to Hebrew school or any of that stuff,” she said.

Lash said her biggest setback in preparing for her Bat mitzvah was that she could not read Hebrew.  Still, she said she became interested in the culture, especially after she joined the Jewish youth group B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO), an organization which Lash said tries to retain engagement from Jewish youth after their Bat mitzvahs. Lash joined the organization as a freshman, and said she has learned more about Judaism and fallen in love with the culture. She is now on the Northern California regional board, which includes over 650 Jewish students.

“I really believe that Judaism’s whole Torrah and all the laws are meant to make people their best selves and do good things for others for the sake of wanting other people to be happy,” she said.

Much of the time Lash spends with BBYO is for community service projects.

“What appeals to me is that we don’t do it because we need hours, but because it’s something we care about as Jews,” she said.

Since joining BBYO, Lash has increased her devotion to her Judaism. Last summer, she attended a camp in Pennsylvania to spend 3 weeks with Jewish students from all over the world and rabbis of all different sects.

“I really felt inspired to figure out how I wanted to practice,” she said. “It gives people the chance to find their Jewish identity and what it means to be Jewish in today’s world and it really did that for me.”

Since her camp, Lash said she goes to temple more often and praying almost every day. She said she feels more grounded and purposeful.

“I feel like I don’t get mad as much and I definitely feel more focused on the future,” Lash said.

Lash said she has not met many people who share her path to religion.

“I think a lot of times, religion is not self-sought,” Lash said. It was hard at first because religion was something both my parents had run away from and here I was seeking it out.”

Lash continues to discover her faith, and she said she is looking for a college next year with a strong Jewish community.

She said she is also interested some day in attending Rabbi school in Israel.

“If my lifestyle permits, I think that’d be a really cool learning experience,” she said.