Montz teen earns prestigious Mount Carmel Academy award

Lauren Snider received the award at a school assembly last month.

The St. Thérèse of Lisieux Award is presented each year to a Mount Carmel Academy 8th grader who most clearly demonstrates the virtues of St. Thérèse of Lisieux through her faith, her humility and her service to others.

It is the highest award given to an 8th grade student at MCA.

This year Montz resident Lauren Snider, the daughter of Dustin and Trish Snider, captured the honor.

Lauren attended St. Charles Borromeo from PK3 through 7th grade and started 8th grade at MCA last fall. This past school year she was involved in campus ministry, the fitness club and served on the student council. She is a cheerleader for Brother Martin High School and will serve as the 9th grade class president in the fall.

“We got an email with the criteria of the award and so many people came up to me and said, ‘This is so you Lauren,’” she said.

MCA students were able to each nominate one student for the award, and later the students got an email that listed the top six award nominees and voted again.

“I was so surprised that I was even nominated,” Lauren said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is such an honor.’”

Lauren found out she won the award at a school assembly.

“Right after the mass my mom called me and asked me If I got it and she started crying on the phone,” Lauren said. “The award makes me feel like it’s really nice to know people recognize kindness … that it doesn’t go unnoticed when you’re nice to someone or make someone feel important and included.”

Lauren said a special family connection to St. Thérèse of Lisieux makes winning the award even sweeter.

“My MawMaw Suzanne Snider’s confirmation saint was St. Thérèse of Lisieux,” she said, adding that her other grandmother had a necklace made of petals from a rose that had touched a relic of St. Thérèse of Lisieux from a church in River Ridge.

“My MawMaw gave me her necklace,” Lauren said. “It’s my special connection to the saint.”

 

About Monique Roth 919 Articles
Roth has both her undergraduate and graduate degree in journalism, which she has utilized in the past as an instructor at Southeastern Louisiana University and a reporter at various newspapers and online publications. She grew up in LaPlace, where she currently resides with her husband and three daughters.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply