by Dennis Dalman
In an act of generous kindness, St. John’s Prep School students recently donated $1,800 and 900 pounds of food to the St. Joseph Community Food Shelf, and several SJP students from both St. Joseph and Sartell helped in the effort.
That amount was matched dollar-for-dollar by another generous grant provided by the Norman Skalicky Foundation, bringing the total funds to $3,200.
The most money was raised by the students in the ninth-grade homeroom of Robert Erickson, and the most food items were given to the food shelf by the sixth-graders in Carlee Biechler’s homeroom. Both Biechler and Erickson are St. Joseph residents.
The Prep School fundraising campaign, now in its 14th year, was coordinated this year by Matt Beck, the director of the St. John’s Prep Benedictine Center for Leadership, Service and Community.
In an interview with the Newsleaders, Beck, who delivered the money and food items to the food shelf, noted there are 180 students in the school and that all participated in the fund-raising effort in one way or another.
The food-shelf fundraiser/food delivery is just one of the ongoing projects supported and coordinated by the BCLSC that was founded in 2023, Beck noted.
“A lot of what we do is to empower students to identify community needs and then take initiatives to lead projects and opportunities to address those needs,” he said.
Students’ parents also become involved in the projects.
The following are just examples of the programs/projects:
One: A small group of students proposed a “Festival of Culture” to celebrate diversity. It came to fruition last fall.
Two: Students met to create a “Middle School Mentoring Program” so sixth-graders and upper-school students can meet for lunch together once a month for structured conversational sharing. That initiative was proposed by student senior Isabel Crue of St. Joseph. She is the daughter of honored technical college teacher Crue (see related story in this Newsleaders edition).
Three: Students led an American Red Cross blood drive.
Four: Students invited Native American students from Red Lake, Minn., to talk about their “Seven Fathers Teaching” program, and then they led a prayer service.
Five: Students, as they have in previous years, recently helped pack food for the “Kids Fighting Hunger” program at the River’s Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud. Fifty students and their families helped to do the job.
Six: There is also a “Whole School Initiative” for which students come up with good things for the entire school. Beck and school staff help empower students in that effort, too.
When students come up with good, connective ideas, Beck said he meets with them to help implement their ideas and goals.
“We meet to drive creation of new initiatives that foster leadership, service for the community and spiritual growth,” Beck said.
Members of the St. John’s Prep School “Middle School Mentoring Program” get together for a discussion. Clockwise from left starting in the back row are middle-school students Elise Danielson, Sophia Bohn-Gettler and Dominic Christensen, all of Sartell, and junior students Aquiliana Wolf of St. Joseph, Aubrey Lewis of Cold Spring and Brianna Chalich of St. Joseph. Isabel Crue, senior SJP student, started the mentoring program.
Matt Beck delivered food items recently to the St. Joseph Community Food Shelf. The food and a hefty monetary contribution of $1,800 was collected by St. John’s Prep School students and their parents. Beck is the director of SJP School’s Benedictine Center for Leadership, Service and Community.
St. John’s Prep School sophomores Amanda and Sarah Bolton of Sartell organized and led the National Honor Society’s annual blood drive with support from the Benedictine Center for Leadership, Service and Community.
