Intern Highlight: Molly Radigan

Molly Radigan leaves traces of her art everywhere she goes. A furry, mustached cat in a blazer on the whiteboard at the Crossroads office stands testimony to that. A digital arts major with a concentration in animation, she is one of the talented designers on the Crossroads team.

Molly grew up in Westerville, Ohio with a love for drawing. This love soon turned into a passion and before long she started mimicking animated characters in her art. She did not wait for school to start learning digital arts; Molly started teaching herself even before she took her first digital arts class in high school. She would create characters based on a description or her imagination.

At IndyCC 2014, someone saw Molly’s skill set as a good fit for Crossroads and referred her to the Chicago Summer Mission. It was really exciting and a relief for Molly to make the decision to work at Crossroads after months of contemplation. She says that she was not sure what Crossroads would be like especially since she arrived a week after everyone else did. As she recalls her first week here, a nostalgic smile breaks out and she  says, “It felt like coming home”.

“Cru has helped me focus on what God wants instead of doing what I want, and it definitely has been worth it [to be in Crossroads]. God has definitely shown me that it is his plan.”

Being a people person, Molly loves the atmosphere in the entire Chicago Summer Mission. It has been amazing for her to live in community with people like her who love the Lord and at the same time a learning experience. She has been working at Crossroads, helping design logos, t-shirts, and videos. She describes the team atmosphere as super different and fun and has loved being able to speak her thoughts and create something tangible.

“I feel good about using my gifts in God’s plan. I did not have this opportunity with my work back at school. It is definitely different for me. I have never made anything that will be presented to a large audience. It’s not mine but His and that helps me calm down.”

Ultimately she wants to be able to get in the animation industry, doing character design. As long as she is able to create characters, she doesn’t care who it is for.

Any highlight about Molly cannot be completed without a mention of her love for animals. She adores animals so much so that she turned to vegetarianism to express her displeasure at how animals reared for their meat are treated. She comes from a family of eight but it has always been much bigger if one were to count all the different pets they have had at different times. In her lifetime she has owned a lot of fish, rabbits, hamsters, dogs, snakes, and turtles. Her twin brother had a lizard, but Molly took care of it and was the only one who could hold it.

“I wanna get a chinchilla when I am done with project. They are super cute. You should Google them.”

All these pets have helped Molly to really notice and love God’s creation. Especially being an artist she is able to look around and appreciate God’s creativity more. She sees God’s creativity in the sunset and all of creation.

“The whole world is His art. He created you and me. He created them [the animals]. It’s so amazing to look at the detail and to love Him even more and continue that relationship.”

Molly is learning to rely on God instead of relying on others to find her worth. So far this summer, she is enjoying finding her identity in Him and not through efforts or people’s opinions of her.

In conclusion, there are two things that Molly wants you to know.

“I find humour in absolutely anything, and I think that it makes life more interesting.”

“Balloons belong at any and every party.”