Aquinas-Landmark-Winter-2021

4 Melissa Mang, director of faith formation at St. Lawrence Church said, “The Aquinas students deserve recognition, they are our go to leaders. When they’re here, they’re just such great mentors and witnesses to the faith for the younger children. We couldn’t do it without them.” Senior Alexis Galusha, who has volunteered at St. Lawrence’s vacation bible school since she was in 6th grade, remembers when she was younger and attended it herself. “I would always look up to the older kids and I knew that someday I wanted to be in that position to be a leader and a role model for the young kids.” St. Lawrence’s Vacation Bible School is one week during the summer from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. for children in kindergarten through 5th grade, so the student volunteers certainly stay busy. Their responsibilities vary widely and include helping with set up, clean up, the opening and closing programs, and running stations that include crafts, scripture, snack, and outdoor activities. Some even co-teach with an adult. Donna Gray, who has been the youth minister at St. Lawrence Church for 26 years agrees that the vacation bible school could not run without the help of the Aquinas students. “It’s not just coming in and having fun in your community service efforts, it’s work. It’s getting up early in the summertime and staying and picking up chairs, picking up beads that fall over the floor when kids are doing their crafts, reaching out to kids that might not be participating,” said Donna. “I think it really brings out the best in the teenagers because maybe they didn’t know they had that capacity to get a shy one to participate or make somebody who might be a little teary-eyed feel better. Their enthusiasm is obviously shared with whomever they are ministering to. The kids are looking at them for direction, and they are leading by example.” Aquinas senior Mackenzie Murphy, who was a crew leader at the vacation bible school this summer could see how her presence and that of the other volunteers was making an impression on the young students. “It was so cute, because some of them would listen to the scripture and then talk to us about it,” she said. “We tried to make the stories fun and interactive for them and they were more engaged because of that, it was nice to see.” Sarah Kretchmer, who is also a senior at Aquinas and was a crew leader alongside Mackenzie, enjoys working with kids and knows the value of her volunteer efforts. “Being that age, it can be hard for kids to sit through a mass, so vacation bible school strives to make everything fun with activities, games, and movies. I like knowing that I helped make faith fun for the kids.” Aquinas StudentsHelpNextGeneration EMBRACE THEIR FAITH Each and every day our Aquinas students have the privilege of learning about their faith as a regular part of their schedule. Over the summer, we found that many of them continue to celebrate their faith and help the younger generation to embrace it as well at vacation bible schools throughout the Diocese of Rochester. At St. Lawrence Church in Greece, however, Aquinas student volunteers, ranging from grades 6 to 12, make up the majority of the students who help out each summer. H idden H eroes AQUINAS LANDMARK | WINTER 2021