St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School // Volunteer

Volunteer

Love is essential, so that without love, all our efforts are in vain—no matter how much good we accomplish.

St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School volunteers are essential to our students’ and school’s success. Our volunteers’ time and talents provide many services to benefit our students, parents, teachers, administrators and staff.

Many of our volunteers share with us that helping at our school has given them more peace, love and joy in their lives than ever before. Some of our volunteering opportunities include:

Education

One-on-one or small group tutoring in school subjects or prayers
Read to students
Teach foreign language to students and adults
Assist in classrooms
Be a Homeroom mother, father or grandparent

Extracurricular

Help with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or other student group
Lead activities in the Aftercare program activities (games, arts and crafts, music, dance)
Take photos at events
Help at events like the Christmas Program, Festival of the Arts and Talent Show

Administrative

Answer the phone
Organize files
Teach First Aid
Keep track of alumni at graduation times
Make a scrapbook for an event
Help write our newsletter
Assist with fundraising efforts

Beautification (inside & out)

Plant a garden
Paint lines for the basketball court
Mow and maintain our green space
Cleaning and organizing
Wash windows

Technology

Upgrade a computer

Leadership

Serve on a School Board committee
Serve on the PTO Executive Board
Be a parent representative on the School Board

Our students are important gifts that God has entrusted to us. Volunteers are required to follow the policies and guidelines of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School and the Diocese of Charleston as a condition of providing services to the children.

New volunteers must attend the educational session “Protecting God’s Children,” part of the VIRTUS training program regarding child sexual abuse. To register for a local training session, go to www.virtus.org.

To learn more about volunteering opportunities, contact Sister Catherine Noecker at 864-271-0167 or come by the school any time.

Our Volunteer

Nick Reynolds

When he’s in class on the Furman University campus, Nick Reynolds might be found working his way through a complex problem in a physics lab.

Figuring out force vectors and moments of inertia are just part of his natural curiosity about the world, he said.

“I’ve always had a desire to try to figure out what makes the world tick,” Nick said, adding that his search generally leads to a spiritual source. “When you find a fascinating thing, you find God behind it.”

Each week, you can find Nick involved in the St. Anthony’s after school program.

One recent afternoon, he was watching over a group of children who were attempting to defy some of the laws of physics, swinging like pendulums and hanging by their knees on the playground equipment, then hurtling from one side of the yard to the other to jump on and off the ladders.

“The kids are just funny. If you’re having a bad day, just being with them makes your day better,” Nick said with a smile.

Reynolds, a St. Simon’s Island, Ga., native, is a senior physics major at Furman, where he’s been highly active in Catholic Ministry.

St. Anthony’s pastor, Fr. Patrick Tuttle, is the campus minister to Furman’s Catholic students, a connection that helped lead Nick to St. Anthony.

“It’s become my home away from home,” he said.

This past summer, Nick was a St. Anthony summer intern, along with five other Furman students. He got to work with many of the parish’s more than 30 ministries and got to experience all aspects of Parish life.

In addition to his work with St. Anthony's school, Nick is also a regular on other parish projects like rehabbing the homes across Gower Street from the St. Anthony campus.

Nick said the experiences have only strengthened his sense of calling to religious life, which he is currently discerning.

As he dashed off to help one of the children, Nick described St. Anthony School is a fun-loving, spirit-filled community, adding it’s rewarding to help out.

“To play kickball or help with homework or whatever, you’re giving a gift you have–your time,” he said.