This school year, many students at St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly have created their legacies by taking the initiative to launch extracurricular clubs, service projects, and publications based on their interests, putting forth their talents to serve God and the community.
All Paul VI students now have the opportunity each month to meet at the new Aerospace and Aviation Club, led by student John Williams (’25). He established this club for like-minded students interested in exploring topics and tales in aviation and space. “Two times a month, this club brings in guest speakers from a former Top Gun pilot, engineers, and eventually astronauts to speak with some young minds,” Williams said. “We offer the exclusive opportunity to hear fascinating stories and lessons from remarkable people. Our goal is to spread the wonders of aviation and history to the next generation at PVI by offering a chance to listen and speak to successful aerospace individuals. When we see what can fly, we see the endless heights of our potential.”
While the club meets on campus, other students organize off-campus events in a new project called Feeding Need, founded by Alexandria Boland (’25) and Madisyn Kroeger (’25). Boland and Kroeger gather with students outside local grocery stores and encourage shoppers to buy an extra food item to donate. Both are present for the events from collection to drop off. They said it has taught them a lot about managing large groups and communicating with each other.
Once the food items have been donated, student volunteers then package them into meal boxes to be distributed to the Cornerstones Embry Rucker Community Shelter in Reston. So far, the group has contributed more than 800 hand-packed meal donations.
“I’ve seen students dedicate weekends and evenings to collecting food,” said Boland. “I’ve had people drop off carts full of food when they came to the grocery store for only one item. I’ve had girls I barely know drive an hour out of their way to drop off boxes. Encountering people through service is like nothing else I’ve ever done, and I’m privileged to have this experience and provide an opportunity for others to as well.”
“Feeding Need has given people an easy and meaningful way to give back to their community,” said Kroeger. “I can’t wait to see what the future has in store.”
Another donation project recently organized and promoted by Natalie Nicholson (’25) was to collect art supplies in partnership with International SEVA, an Ashburn-based program that supports students with special needs in Northern Virginia. “The art supply drive at PVI collected various supplies to provide these students with educational resources to help them grow and uplift them,” said Nicholson. By the end of the drive, four large moving boxes were filled with supplies.
“I worked with this organization and put together the art supply drive because although PVI is very fortunate to have an Options Program, other schools in the area do not have access to this resource,” she said. “Many kids my age with special needs are left at home with a caretaker, and providing this organization with supplies will help these students become more involved in their community. This was a self-led initiative, I organized the drive, promotions and collected the supplies.”
Also new this school year is the Writer’s Block Club, a group of students making a difference on the web by contributing to a periodical publication called the Crossroads. First published in December 2023, the multi-issue, multi-faceted magazine allows students and faculty to share their interests and creativity in writing articles on diverse topics. With its motto, “collaborating at the intersection of inspiration and information,” Crossroads has welcomed everything from poetry, fantasy fiction chapters, and features on events around the school, to international travel stories, insights about music, screenplay excerpts, and spiritual guidance from our school chaplains.
Crossroads has especially grown and thrived in the second semester thanks to the help of Carter Casagrande (’25), a writer, editor, and designer for the publication. For each publication, she interviews and writes about students who are making a difference in their communities.
“I love writing these articles because I get to write about something that I am passionate about and hopefully inspire the PVI community by opening their eyes to all of the service opportunities surrounding us,” Casagrande said. “The purpose of these articles is for students to learn through the examples of their classmates that there are so many ways to make a difference and to show them that even small and simple acts can have a huge impact on the lives of others. I have also loved working with the Crossroads team as one of the editors and look forward to continuing.”
This is just the beginning of all these innovative ideas. The Paul VI community looks forward to seeing their continued growth and successes in the future with more students learning about aviation, more goods being donated to the community, and issues of Crossroads being published
