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While in high school, community service changed my life. I was a boarding school student in North Carolina and a member of a service club. On Sunday afternoons, we alternated assignments each month volunteering at an orphanage, a mental health center, a long-term care home for seniors, and a juvenile detention center. Those experiences deeply shaped me. Today, they shape my vision for Vail Christian.
From the beginning, our school has prioritized service. In the early days, there was an entire week devoted to service called ‘Mission Week.’ This year, we are resurrecting that tradition with our junior class, calling it PLuS Week – Purpose, Leadership, and Service (three words from our mission statement). Next school year, we plan to involve the entire student body in PLuS Week.
PLuS Week will take place soon – March 18-22, the week before Spring Break. Students will volunteer locally, in Puerto Rico, and in Mexico. Here in Eagle County, students will work with Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, Habitat for Humanity, and Salvation Army learning more about environmental sustainability, affordable housing, and food insecurity.
Linking arms with Students Shoulder to Shoulder, eight students will work on a farm in Puerto Rico learning about sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty. A group of ten students will serve in Linares, Mexico with Back2Back Ministries at a family-style home for orphans and vulnerable children.
I’m incredibly grateful to Kasey Desmond (PLuS Coordinator) who has taken a vision and converted it into what hopefully will be a life-changing week for our juniors. She recently said to me, “This is far more than a service week. It’s learning by doing. Learning happens inside and outside the classroom.” I couldn’t agree more!
The week is also the training ground to support our students as they grow in Portrait of a Saint character attributes – gratitude, advocacy, stewardship, growth, and known. As a school that sees no separation between Christian faith and learning, we view spiritual formation through the lens of Jesus’ example.
Jesus’ life holistically touched ‘head, heart, and hand’ or what we call mind, spirit, and body. And in my experience, it’s most often through our ‘hands’ (service to others and His creation) that God transforms the head and heart. I call it ‘getting our hands dirty’ and ‘actions speak louder than words’ as we live out our faith. With that end in mind, we are working hard to prepare our Saints to make the world a better place.
Steve O'Neil
Head of School
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