b'Archbishop Moeller seniorCarson Marsh, center, leads agroup celebration at Moellerscollaborative LIFE meeting withnearby Mount Notre Dame HighSchool before Christmas.PHOTO BY JULIE WALLING PHOTO BY JULIE WALLINGWe want frequent experiences where students share more about themselves so that they can becomecan gather together in a Christian community and closer with God and with each other, he said.share their faith, she said. How they do that isTo fulfill that call, Moeller has invited nearbyentirely up to them. Mount Notre Dame High School to collaborate andThe student leaders have not only peers at their share its small, faith community.schools to lean on but other LIFErs from schools Life-long friends have grown in abundance in fivearound the country, contemporaries they have met decades of LIFE. LIFErs have become adult programthrough the summer LIFE program. The Marianist leaders themselves; theyve met spouses through LIFE,Province of the United States hosts three programs in and theyve seen their children grow up to becomesummer, drawing students from all over the country. LIFE leaders, too. Moeller senior Stephen AdamsGoing to summer LIFE and meeting kids from In Honolulu, Christopher Casupang, the campus and Mount Notre Dames Kendleanother school, you form a bond with them; you have minister at Saint Louis School, is an alum of the school Coffee share a high-five at a LIFE meeting in December.the same interests, said SVSM senior Aislynn McVicker, and LIFE, Class of 1987. He met his wife through LIFE,who attended this past summer. Its hard to balance and now he has watched his son Bubba become a LIFEthat faith life with school, athletics, and everything else leader himself. going on. Being at summer LIFE with other kids who Ive kind of been surrounded by the program all myhave the same priority of putting their faith first really life, Bubba said, explaining that his parents broughtshows that you can do it as well. him along to the summer program in California. OtherPlus, summer LIFE friends are only a text or phone moderators also brought their children, so the smallcall away. SVSM junior Clare Rothkopf regularly chats community of children went on mini-retreats, aswith a friend from summer LIFE and still feels that Bubba Casupang called them. As a result, his officialsense of community from the program last summer. summer attendance last year proved extra special.Community, theres that word again. Its a drawing I was excited to finally be able to go myself, andpoint for LIFE students throughout the country, I went with someone I knew and with whom I wasJohn Pham, a senior leader at Moeller in Cincinnati, really close from the childhood trips with their echoed Akrons Rothkopf by citing community as parents, he said.my favorite aspect of Marianist LIFE, adding that Thus, LIFE goes on, small, faith-based communitiesthe communitys invitation for young to share faith laying the foundation for the future of the Marianistis compelling. Family just as small, faith-based communities laidEveryone is trying to develop their faith further the foundation for the Marianist Family in the past.and inviting each other to embrace their faith and Funny, how that works. HELP SUPPORT the Marianist LIFE program. To donate, or for more information, visit marianist.com/lifemarianist.com/donate 17'