Seven pupils at Lancashire’s Stonyhurst College have struck gold for their charitable and faith-based efforts over the last few years.
The group of Poetry (Year 12) pupils have been presented with the Faith in Action Gold Award after going the extra mile to organise events and fundraisers at the College and participate in community projects both locally and as far away as Africa.
Faith in Action (FIA) is a National Award from Cymfed, the Catholic Youth Ministry Federation, which aims to recognise, reward and celebrate the active faith and service of young people, and has been an opportunity encouraged at Stonyhurst for the past six years. 14 pupils, including the 2024 cohort, have progressed through the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards during that time, and pupils across all College year groups are currently working towards their Bronze and Silver.
It is a programme that aligns strongly with the school’s Jesuit heritage and ethos that nurtures pupils to become ‘men and women for others’ through the Jesuit Profile.
Catherine Crombie, Stonyhurst’s Director of Christian Formation, explained: “I am delighted that our pupils’ efforts are being recognised by this significant award. Their dedication to being leaders in both the prayer life and social justice work of the College, over a five-year period, has been truly exemplary in their embodiment of our core Jesuit values of being people for others and giving as much as they can.”
Katie, one of this year’s Gold Award recipients, said: “Faith in Action allows us all to do a small bit to help with big problems. It gives us the opportunity to raise awareness about things that we find important, and it very quickly became something very important to me and has been a big part of my school life. I have had the help of teachers and my peers along the way, but ultimately, I have found that I can always help in a small way.” Katie helped organise a fundraiser for Ukraine, involving a teachers versus pupils rounders match and a host of stalls with snacks and games, which raised over £600.
When working towards the Gold Award, Katie attended a school trip to Zimbabwe to teach young children to play tag rugby, which she called an “eye opening” and “life changing” experience, as well as being her standout memory of the whole FIA experience.
The programme has also changed the outlook of another of this year’s Gold recipients, Elliot, who utilised his years of film-making experience to create several short documentaries about Christian persecution, even travelling to the Houses of Parliament to interview MPs about the issue. He said: “I didn’t realise that Christian persecution was such a widespread issue, so raising awareness about the crisis through the medium of film was a brilliant opportunity. After the first interview, I realised that video journalism was a career that I would like to get into, and the Award has not only helped open my mind far more to being proactive, but I’ve also learned to question things that we take for granted and about underreported issues.”
Elliot also said that he enjoys being surrounded by people at the College who want to make a difference, adding: “I think the Jesuit ethos of Stonyhurst is something that is hard to come across anywhere else.”
Katie agreed, saying: “The number of opportunities we have to perfect our own personal skills which we can then go into the world and use to enhance other people’s lives is astronomical, and this dual perspective is what makes Stonyhurst unique.”
The Jesuit values underpin all teaching and are woven into all aspects of life at Stonyhurst. Even the youngest children from age three are helped to appreciate what they have and learn to make the most of their talents, as well as celebrating the successes of others.
Within Stonyhurst’s 1,000-acre estate, there is no shortage of opportunities through the school’s co-curricular provision, encompassing more than 75 clubs and activities. Pupils can also represent their year group on the Pupil Council to bring about change to their daily school lives and, aside from Faith in Action, chaplaincy co-curricular includes Prayer Groups, Altar Serving, the Arrupe Service Programme and the Environment Society.
Catherine Crombie said: “At Stonyhurst there is something for everyone, no matter what their interests and passions are, and as teachers and educators we are interested in each pupil’s capabilities and how we can develop them. We make it our mission to find out what they want to achieve in the world.”
Stonyhurst would like to congratulate Katie, Elliot, Daisy, Lilia, Hima, Peter and Alfie on this fantastic achievement