Scores of students interview for Christian Service Awards

By Andrew Junker | Dec. 22, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

Nearly 100 eighth-grade students nervously approached the Diocesan Pastoral Center and signed in for their scheduled interviews.

They were completing a process that had begun months earlier: their application for the Catholic Community Foundation’s Christian Service Awards. The Dec. 5 interview was their last step.

“I practiced interviewing with my mom,” said Emily Alimusa, a student at St. Mary-Basha Catholic School in Chandler. She was nervous about the interview because it was a new experience for her.

St. Jerome Catholic School student Philip Argawal said he was less nervous than many of his peers. His mother, Mary, attributes his confidence to the time he has spent scouting.

“Every time you earn a merit badge, you have to go through an interview,” she said.

All the same, Philip tried to leave nothing to chance. He spent a lot of time reviewing the essay he wrote for the application and going over all the volunteer hours he racked up over the past two years.

The Christian Service Awards were founded in 1998 through a donation of Fr. Philip Poirier. He wanted to honor Catholic eighth-graders for their charitable and Christ-centered actions. The awards grant each recipient an $8,000 scholarship to the Catholic high school of his or her choice.

Recently, the foundation has integrated interviews into the application process. It used to be that only a short list of potential recipients was interviewed, but now every single student is.

It’s a big time commitment for committee members, but the experience is more than worthwhile, said Kelly McCone, who interviewed applicants both this year and last.

“It’s so encouraging and enlightening and inspirational to see the quality of kids in our diocese who dream to continue their Catholic education,” McCone said. “It’s unbelievable in a 13-year-old boy or girl to see the maturity they have and the depth of their faith.”

With so many worthy applicants, it’s a thankless task only to be able to reward 18 of them, he said. One of the main goals of the committee is to find new scholarships for the awards.

The number of students benefiting from the Christian Service Awards has grown from their inception. In 1998, the foundation gave four scholarships.

“With the quality of kids we have I don’t think we could have too many scholarships,” McCone said. “We could double them and still be disappointed that we couldn’t meet the need.”