St. Mary’s leadership classes completed acts of service this semester to help better the community. Students were tasked with coming up with a cause or finding an organization that could use a helping hand to demonstrate the kind of positive impact young people can have in their communities.
The first class organized a supply and toy drive for the SPCA of Erie County, collecting pet toys and blankets from the St. Mary’s student body as well as hand-making 30 blankets for the cause. The second class contacted Bowmansville Volunteer Fire Association to see if they could use any help around the station. The class hosed down the fire trucks, mopped the floors, and did other little, odds-and-ends jobs that really impressed those at the fire hall. While the organizations surely benefitted from the students’ hard work, the Lancers from St. Mary’s say they also received more than they gave: “To know you’re helping out someone else and making a difference, that’s really a life-changing thing and makes you want to continue to give back more,” said St. Mary’s senior, Andrew Wargo.
St. Mary’s has made leadership a mandatory class for all students, alongside other classes like public speaking and personal finance, as components of a new life major curriculum, which better prepares students for life beyond the classroom: “We have really begun to implement a curriculum at St. Mary’s that focuses on more than just the usual subjects,” said Keith Junik, Dean of Academics and Curriculum. “Learning key leadership skills and the importance of public service will be incredibly beneficial to our students in college and beyond, and that is what St. Mary’s is all about.”
