Fifty hours of required community service may seem overwhelming, but at Xavier those hours don’t feel like a burden to many students. They become moments of purpose.
At Xavier, community service focuses on helping others through acts of kindness and assistance, requiring students to volunteer face-to-face doing activities that benefit human beings, without any monetary benefit. Students can volunteer at nonprofit organizations, or anywhere that offers service that solely helps people.
Faith-based service is different. One could obtain community service hours through faith-based service, but faith-based is anything that can enrich students in their spirituality.
Sophia Vien Bullicer ‘27, Stephanie Vivas ‘26, and Sarah Strickbine ‘26 serve regularly at Catholic organizations, creating lasting impacts on both the people they serve and themselves.
Many Xavier students dedicate their service hours to St. Vincent de Paul, a nonprofit organization that provides meals, clothing and support to individuals and families facing hardship.
“I started volunteering my freshman year because I needed service hours,” Vivas said. “But then I realized I genuinely loved doing it, and it became part of who I am.”
Now, Vivas serves daily at St. Vincent de Paul by taking on the role of greeting families, hearing their stories and connecting them to resources.
Like Vivas, Vien Bullicer also finds purpose in faith-driven service. She explains how serving is her God-given purpose.
“I do believe that God gave tasks to everyone and gifts they can use. I think my gift is just serving people in the best way I can,” Bullicer said.
Bullicer was selected for an internship at St. Vincent de Paul. She works there twice a week, where she supervises volunteers and provides instruction.
Strickbine serves as the vice president of Xavier’s Young Vincentians Club, led by theology teacher Gavin Ahern, where members volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul weekly.
Similar to St. Vincent de Paul, André House is one of the main providers of dinner services for the homeless in downtown Phoenix, extending dignity and hospitality to every guest. Outside of school, Strickbine volunteers at Andre House, preparing meals for the homeless.
She reflects on how her service has shaped her understanding of human dignity, connecting her experiences to the corporal works of mercy in the Catholic Church. “I’ve learned that in God’s eyes everyone has equal dignity, and we need to uphold that by treating each other with mutual respect,” Strickbine said.
The recognition of human dignity is essential to the Catholic faith, and through her service, Strickbine has been able to witness it.
Xavier theology teacher and Christian Service Coordinator Gina Iker describes how she has witnessed service shaping students’ characters and outlooks on faith.
“When students serve others, they not only recognize the dignity of the person in need, they also recognize their own worth and abilities to make a difference. Service helps them understand that they are capable of doing something meaningful,” Iker said.
Together, these students show that service at Xavier is more than a requirement, it’s an expression of faith, dignity and purpose.
