Cassady Detrick
My name is Cassady Detrick and I am from Ashville, Ohio studying Public Relations and Marketing
Communications at Ohio Dominican. This fall has been life changing for me and Sarah and Thomas have played a more vital role in that than they even realize (but when I tell them that they will say it was all God because that is missionaries do and say). It all started with one night of prayer and turned into something bigger than what I ever saw coming. The Lord placed a great group of people in my life to worship the Lord with and the feeling I get when I am with them is a feeling I used to only get when I went on a yearly mission trip with my youth group. It is amazing. This fall, I attended an event called One Gospel and the Lord sent me a message through the power of praise and worship that I had been searching for; the message to pursue Him and share my love for Him genuinely with the people around me. The Lord has done some marvelous work in my life so far this fall and I cannot wait to see where he takes me and my group of SPO friends next. |
Anna Dillon
My name is Anna Dillon and I am from Lebanon, Ohio. I am going to be a sophomore at Ohio State majoring in Spanish. I became involved with Saint Paul’s Outreach in the fall of my freshman year. The Lord has abundantly and uniquely showed me His love through the men and women of this Catholic Community. I am inspired and encouraged by them everyday to become the best I can be. Saint Paul’s Outreach has introduced me to virtuous living, students and missionaries who lead through the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and prayer and songs that move me to tears. In just my first year of college, through the Lord’s grace, my life has been changed. My heart and soul desire to know, to love, and to serve the Lord even more. I have learned more about the Catholic Church, the Eucharist, the persons of the Trinity, and virtue in one year than I have in my entire life. I am excited for my future because I know there is so much more spiritual growth to come!
Victoria Shand
My name is Victoria Shand and I will be a sophomore studying social work at The Ohio State Univeristy. Coming into college I was searching for something, but I didn’t realize that what I was searching for was actually a relationship with the Lord. I grew up Catholic: went to Catholic school, to church every Sunday, but my faith was always a part of my education- it was never something I chose for myself. When I moved to North Carolina from Ohio after my sophomore year of high school, I turned away from the Lord and I began to place my identity in things that I was “good” at- soccer, running, and school, because that felt secure to me at the time. I believed in the Lord but I did not know Him personally or how He loved me intimately. I guess you could say that the Lord was actually seeking a relationship with me too, as I met one of the mission leaders from SPO on my second day on campus. The Lord used Saint Paul's Outreach to pour out His love on me, to remind me of my worth in Him and to give me a community of men and women that are witnesses to the Catholic faith for college students and friendships that are rooted in faith. This community has provided me with an example of what holy men and women look like, how to have a daily prayer life, and what it means to live humbly and serve others well. SPO continues to teach me about a way of life that is sustainable and real. My faith is no longer an obligation, but a relationship that constantly calls me on to deeper communion with Christ in attempt to make everything that I do with Him in mind.
Sheila McMahon
My name is Sheila McMahon (on the left)) and I am starting my 3rd year at The Ohio State University. I was drawn into Ohio State’s Catholic community early on in my freshman year of college. Attending Mass led to a retreat which led to more events and a bible study and before I knew it my faith was taking a more central place in my life than it ever had before. In high school, my Catholic faith was not something I shared with many of my classmates and I had a definite sense that religion was something old-fashioned and not really relevant to all domains of life. In college I was astounded and delighted to be welcomed by a community who embraced and proclaimed their Catholic identity in a way that I had never seen before. I got to know individuals who were on fire for the Lord and whose example of holiness I desired to follow. I began to do so through involvement in SPO and the Newman Center on campus, but it wasn’t until my sophomore year that I began to develop a more personal relationship with the Lord and experienced a deeper interior conversion that allowed me to give more to the ministries I had become involved in and brought even more true joy to every part of my life. Before I came to college I never imagined that the Lord would bring me to a community like SPO where faith is fostered and life is lived radically and beautifully in the service of God and the Church, but I am eternally grateful that He has.
Laura Schlagheck
Growing up, the LORD laid a great foundation for the work that He has done in college and the work that I am sure He is going to continue to do for the rest of my life. My parents took my sister and I to Mass every Sunday and taught us the importance of loving others, even when it was not easy. We also attended Catholic schools from kindergarten through senior year of high school and were actively involved in our parish’s youth group. I learned a lot about God and His Church and I came to know the LORD in little ways.
Coming to college was a huge step for me in my relationship with the LORD. It provided me the chance to take ownership of my faith. I no longer living within the comfort of the practices that my parents established and the familiarity of our youth group. If I wanted to go to Mass or to pray, then I had to make that choice. My prayer life and my relationship was growing like never before, but it still felt like something was missing. I discovered what that “something” was when I started getting involved in the Newman Center and Saint Paul’s Outreach community; I was missing brothers and sisters to run the race with. I wasn’t meant to strive for Heaven on my own.
My initial assumption was that being involved in the community would be good for me so that I could have like-minded friends who weren’t in to partying and who would maybe occasionally talk about God. The LORD has since blown those expectations out of the water. Through this community, He has gifted me with men and women who consistently support and encourage me when the LORD asks big things of me. They lead me, by words of truth and acts of great love, to live my life more wholly for Jesus. He has given us a depth of brotherhood and sisterhood that allows room for authentic growth into the men and women that He has created us to be. I am forever grateful for this community because through it, God shows me how extravagantly He loves me, He shows me who He wants to be in my life, and He shows me who I am to Him.
Coming to college was a huge step for me in my relationship with the LORD. It provided me the chance to take ownership of my faith. I no longer living within the comfort of the practices that my parents established and the familiarity of our youth group. If I wanted to go to Mass or to pray, then I had to make that choice. My prayer life and my relationship was growing like never before, but it still felt like something was missing. I discovered what that “something” was when I started getting involved in the Newman Center and Saint Paul’s Outreach community; I was missing brothers and sisters to run the race with. I wasn’t meant to strive for Heaven on my own.
My initial assumption was that being involved in the community would be good for me so that I could have like-minded friends who weren’t in to partying and who would maybe occasionally talk about God. The LORD has since blown those expectations out of the water. Through this community, He has gifted me with men and women who consistently support and encourage me when the LORD asks big things of me. They lead me, by words of truth and acts of great love, to live my life more wholly for Jesus. He has given us a depth of brotherhood and sisterhood that allows room for authentic growth into the men and women that He has created us to be. I am forever grateful for this community because through it, God shows me how extravagantly He loves me, He shows me who He wants to be in my life, and He shows me who I am to Him.