PEER SPOTLIGHT: Meghan Larsen-Reid

Meghan Larsen-Reidy lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and her four kids and serves as a Campus Minister at three colleges in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

This year Meghan took  initiative  to encourage students to connect with nature and with each other, all while celebrating the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. This kind of event can have a positive impact on the mental and emotional well-being of students, as well as fostering a sense of community and purpose. 

This year I noticed that students were spending less time outside communing in nature and connecting with peers. For the sake of student’s mental health, I decided to create something to encourage students to be together and be outside rather than alone in their dorm rooms. 

For the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, I spent a whole day celebrating this saint on the green spaces at Waynesburg University. There was a trail mix bar where students could make a healthy snack, color a prayer card or paint a birdhouse and we did a service project for the homeless. 

Some students stopped by briefly while others spent hours, slowly going through each station. Many students came looking tired and left feeling refreshed. I had amazing conversations with some individuals I never met before and connected with some Catholic students who had yet to be at any of our events. Some of these new faces showed up to our Newman Club meeting the next day because of my personal invitation. Throughout the day, over 200 students came and went and we all agreed that we should live like St. Francis more often.

It's heartening to see that the event had a positive impact on both the participants and the campus community as a whole. Continuing to organize such events and finding ways to integrate nature, service, and spirituality into student life can contribute to their overall well-being and personal growth. St. Francis' values of simplicity, humility, and care for the environment can serve as inspiring principles for students to live by.