St. Charles has been the right path for my faith from the start. St.

Charles has involved

faith in every subject since I was in kindergarten; from the first communion training to

becoming an 8th grade church leader to the kindergartens. Saint Charles has provided a space

for my faith life to grow and to later enrich my life with God. I can confidently say that St.

Charles Catholic School has helped shape my faith life and my Catholic identity all by letting me

know that I have value and am a child of God.

My community lets me know that I am loved not only by my family, friends, and school

staff, but also by God. Thankfully, I have always had a very strong relationship with God due to

the fact that my parents and teachers have filled my life with faith. I am always trying to have

contact with God because I have realized that life if better if you believe in Him.

Since a young age I have practiced my faith but one of the biggest steps for me was

recreating the stations of the cross when I was in fifth grade. During this event we have to

reflect on the passion of Christ and take into everything that He went through. I was chosen to

play Mary. This role let me see the passion of Christ in new light and in Mary's perspective.

Recreating the stations of the cross helped me understand the stations better and it let me get

closer to God and my friends at the same time.

I had the opportunity of not only reading a memoir from a holocaust survivor but having

the honor of actually getting to meet her and hug her. Dr. Edith Eva Eger has such a positive

perspective on life and about he next couple of generations. What she went through is so

amazing and especially the faith she had. She never lost faith in God nor herself, this faith
helped her survive the holocaust. Everything she did was done with love. She is a role model not

only for resilience but an advocate for love and life.

Over the years I feel that I have made a bridge that has made my relationship with Christ

so much easier. I can say that I have always stayed strong in my faith, I have never lost it nor

doubted it. This is mostly because I practice my faith both at school and home. Everyday at

school four asc members, including myself, are on the school TV and we lead the school in

morning prayer. Starting the day off with prayer is something I want to continue doing for the

rest of my life; I am glad that they teach this at St. Charles from an early age.

Even though I have always had a good relationship with Christ I definitely reinforced it

at 8th grade retreat, which helped me to find myself and to find God. Retreat helped me to

express my faith more freely around others. Everything that my teachers teach me about faith,

I will pass on to my children and impact them the same way. Hopefully my faith will continue

to stay strong as my life goes on.