St. Thomas More Catholic School’s Angel of the Year
For decades, St. Thomas More Catholic School has provided a unique way to encourage discipleship.
More than twenty years ago, a former St. Thomas More Catholic School custodian, Barb Godek, began the Angel of God Club at the school. She wanted to motivate students to behave kinder to each other and to connect such kindness to our faith. The foundation and guiding behaviors for the club is the 10 Commandments.
Jim Nailon, St. Thomas More teacher, currently leads the club for the school.
“I am continually amazed at the level of importance the club members give to the meetings. Besides songs, prayers and a short religious message, each meeting ends with a prize drawing. They have to follow the club rules all week to be eligible for the meeting, so they earn the privilege of coming to the meeting and learning more about Jesus.”
Because the 2019-2020 school year finished remotely, the club was not able to continue to meet in person. But, the school was able to still award one student member with its annual Angel of the Year honor.
This year’s winner was Maia Arlen. She received the most votes for Angel of the Year by staff and teachers and she recently received a certificate delivered by Mr. Nailon to celebrate. Her name will also be added to the record of all Angels of the Year dating back 20 years.
“Maia has always had a very poised, peaceful and considerate nature. She is very religious and faithful. My wife has even noticed how serious and reverent she is when serving at the altar on weekend Masses. She was always helpful at the Angel of God meetings, either signing up and performing jobs, or helping to monitor the younger kids sitting around her during meetings. She is equally helpful in the classroom and is a joy to be around.”
Enjoy our Q&A with Maia Arlen below:
Q: What’s your favorite subject(s) and why?
A: Science & Math. I love experiments and how my teacher taught us how do reports. Thinking about what could happen and then doing the project to find out how close my thoughts were. I think math is like a puzzle with many approaches.
Q: How does learning and talking about your faith everyday feel?
A: I feel very blessed that we are able to attend Mass two times during the week. By participating in the Mass and praying with my class, I feel closer to God. I also felt happy that this year, my class learned to be altar servers. Hopefully we will be able to serve masses soon.
Q: What do you love about STM?
A: We are very lucky to have a wonderful Angel of God club. I always looked forward to the spiritual and fun end to our week. I will miss having that opportunity next year. I have been blessed to be part of the STM REACH (Really Eager And Climbing Higher) program the last three years. I like that I’m learning in a different way than my daily classes with students from other classes. This year we studied Zoology, last year was Robotics and the year before was Math 24.
Q: Can you tell us a unique fact about yourself?
A: I am the oldest of four. I have two sisters and a little brother. I LOVE to read and play soccer. I am also a third generation St. Thomas More student.
Congratulations, Maia!
