As STA is an institution dedicated to helping the dear neighbor, service has always been an essential part of the community. The dozens of clubs and extracurricular opportunities encourage students to both follow their interests and discover what the community needs when deciding how to give back. The school also offers service trips from freshman through senior year, allowing students to see the impact they can have on communities outside of Kansas City. The service requirements for graduation, which have varied in the past few years due to COVID limitations, ensure every STA student leaves here with the passion and ability to love and serve others. Here, the Mother Evelyn O’Neill nominees talk about why it is important to give back to the community.
Clara Dwyer
Class of 2024
Dwyer spends most of her time volunteering with local food pantries, especially Mimi’s Pantry and Mimi’s Pantry 4 Kids, as she cares most
about food insecurity within homes of families with young children. At the commencement of her service record, she often volunteered with friends, but as she got older, she became more passionate about serving others and volunteered more on her own. Next year, she will study Chemistry and Planetary Sciences, in hopes to research deep space and then share her findings with others in the field by traveling all over the world.
Tierney Flavin
Class of 2024
Flavin often volunteers with the Teen Council at the Kansas City Public Library and with Ten Thousand Villages Overland Park. She cares most about
refugee resettlement. Her mom and grandmother have always brought her along to volunteer, which is how she became interested in service. Next year, she will be majoring in either government or sociology, with her dream career of political journalism.
Amara Keeler
Class of 2024
Keeler mainly volunteers with various Girl Scout events and activities, but also at St. Peter’s, where she coaches their volleyball teams, or helps out with food drives. She wants to help create equal opportunities for all individuals, especially through advocating for affordable and accessible healthcare. Girl Scouts and her parents fostered a love for service in her from an early age, and she grew up in an environment where volunteering was enjoyable and fun while giving back to the community. Keeler will be majoring in biology in the fall, and hopes to be a physician’s assistant in the field of medical genetics.
Millie Lee
Class of 2024
Lee works with Jacob’s Well and Camp Encourage often, and those experiences have led her to the belief that every single person deserves to be treated equally and viewed equally in our world; “everyone is a human being and everyone deserves to be treated that way, no matter of gender, race, sexuality, level of ability, etc.” For Lee’s whole life, the schools she’s attended and her mom have influenced her focus on service and just helping others in general. In the fall, Lee will be majoring in vocal performance and sociology, then plans to pursue music, acting, or music therapy.
Nora Roddy
Class of 2025
Roddy volunteers most often with WIN for KC, a foundation dedicated to promoting women’s sports. She cares most about everyone having access to
a great education. From a young age, Roddy has been volunteering with her family, specifically at Metro Lutheran Ministry. She does not yet know what she will be studying or what career path she intends to pursue, as she is in her junior year.
Chelley Young
Class of 2024
Young has spent time volunteering with Total Man Incorporated, and Giving Hope and Help. She is very passionate about healthcare disparities, especially amongst minority women. Young loves helping people, which makes service not feel like being in servitude to someone or for something but she looks at it as more of a hobby that she pours her heart into. She will be majoring in Public Health with a minor in Spanish, and her dream career changes everyday based on the many experiences she has.
