DONALD HICKS ’23
or Donald Hicks ’23,
choosing the Animal Rescue
League of Boston for his Christian
Senior Service assignment was
simple. It’s close to home and he
loves animals. He’s enjoyed taking
the dogs out for walks and the more
relaxing moments with the cats. As
he says, “Each creature has its own
unique personality and it is always
interesting to get to understand
them.” Donald says the service
experience strengthened his faith
because, “It reminds me of how we
were tasked by God to be stewards
and be as such by defending and
tending to the creations of God
since they are all alive and have
feelings…They deserve the respect
that we give to one another.”
SERVANT LEADERSHIP IN ACTION
averian’s Christian Senior Service (CSS) program is
an optional faith experience that has been offered
during the last term of senior year for decades. It
provides the unique opportunity for seniors in good academic
standing to put their faith into action through service. Instead
of attending classes, students serve in over 50 different agencies
in the communities surrounding Xaverian for their final five
weeks of school. CSS begins with each student meeting with a
member of the campus ministry team to facilitate discernment.
They are encouraged to see their service as a means to bring
God’s healing to those most in need. They then secure a service
site and a site supervisor, and seek approval for their placement
with Xaverian. Throughout their service experience, seniors
engage in reflection through daily journaling, meetings with
their faculty or staff mentor, and two mandatory evenings of
prayer and small group sharing.
The Class of 2023 had a phenomenal showing, with 75% of
students participating in Christian Senior Service. This meant
124 young Xaverian men were out serving the community
every day during the final quarter of their senior year. We
caught up with some of them at their service sites to see how it
was going. Here’s what we learned…
NATHAN YOUNG ’23
athan Young ’23 is pretty sure he wants to work in a fire house in some capacity,
so it made sense for him to fulfill his Christian Senior Service assignment at the
Foxborough Fire Department. He says he wanted to see what service to the community
was really like from an emergency point of view. He quickly learned that the job of a
firefighter isn’t easy, and there is a lot to learn. “Going into the service I thought that this
job was easier than it actually is,” he says. “Once you get to learn everything that needs to
happen, the job becomes more complex.”
Nathan says that this service experience helped to remind him of what’s most
important in life: “So many people are focused on the wrong things and it can get
confusing. At the fire station there is only one thing you focus on, and that is saving the
lives of others.” He adds that his service helped show him that there is a lot of good in his
community and that faith in God is important. “I’ve realized that you never know what
you are getting into on calls, so you have to have faith and trust in God.”
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