September 2025 Meeting

On September twelfth, as the first meeting of the 2025-26 school year, we began with inducting two new members: Jonathan Giraudeau and Daniel Ronk. 

Next, we nominated and voted on officers, with Elijah Townsend as President, Vivian Fernandez as Vice President, Kate Fernandez as Secretary, Jonathan Giraudeau as Treasurer, Owen Bishop as Paramentarian, Ella Cox as Historian/Webmaster, and Daniel Ronk as Snacks and Devotions Coordinator. 

After nominations, we discussed plans for this year, including the upcoming speakers and service projects.

It was an excellent start to the year!

March 2025 Meeting

For our last meeting of the year, we had Andrea Sexton, a lawyer, as our speaker. She was amazing, and dove into into all the ins and outs of law, covering what law is, the process to becoming a lawyer, different types of law, different types of lawyers, different types of cases, and even some of her personal journey. 

This was a very informative session, full of fun and passion, and was a great last meeting! Wow- this year went by so quickly! 

To end, we had devotions by Ben Ronk, and we discussed the end of year event for next month.

February 2025 Meeting

In February, we volunteered at Soup4Seniors, distributing food for the elderly. Soup4Seniors is a food drive run by the Local Office of Aging (LOA) that seeks to provide older Americans with critical, shelf-stable food. They collected 46,000 pounds of food this year, reaching over 2,600 seniors! For more information, click here.

January 2025 Meeting

This month we had the privilege of Brad Townsend as speaker. Mr. Townsend told us about his experience as a structural engineer, and answered any questions we had on the subject. 

We were very grateful to Mr. Townsend for delivering a great presentation despite the snowy weather.

December 2024 Meeting

 

This month, we served at Samaritan's Inn, a place for the homeless to not only nourish their bodies, but also their soul in hearing the word of God. In their words, they are 'A Ministry Feeding the Needy With Truth and Bread'.

Upon arriving, we listened to a sermon. After the sermon, we helped serve food and unbox. Once everyone else left, we did various cleaning jobs and set out food for the next day. 

It was a wonderful chance to serve. To learn more about Samaritan's Inn, visit here.

November 2024 Meeting

 For our November meeting, we had the honor of Jon Montoya as speaker. He was a missionary in Honduras for many years, teaching the native "theists" about the glory and word of God, sometimes even hiking for hours through mountains to reach native tribes. A theist is someone who believes that there is a God, but doesn't go any deeper with their faith. Mr. Montoya shared his experience teaching others the Christian faith, and how it shaped his own relationship with God. 

It was a delight to have Mr. Montoya, and a special shoutout to Caleb Giraudeau for contacting him.

October 2024 Meeting- West End Center

 

During the October meeting, we volunteered at the West End Center. The West End Center is an after-school program founded to give children a safe haven. We played basketball and football with the kids, read to them, played indoor games, and ran around outside with them.

It was fun learning about the organization and helping the children! Volunteers are always well-received here, and today was no exception.

For more information, visit https://www.westendcenter.org/about

September 2024 Meeting

 

In the September meeting, we inducted two new members: Kate and Vivian Fernandez. Next, we elected officers, with Gabriella George as President, Caleb Giraudeau as Vice President, Kate Fernandez as secretary, Ben Ronk as Treasurer, Elijah Townsend as Parliamentarian, Ella Cox as Webmaster/Historian, and Gidean Shiffer as Devotions/ Snack Coordinator. Congratulations to everyone on their new positions! To close, we discussed possible speakers and service projects for the rest of the year. 

March 2024 Meeting

 

    In March, we had the privilege of working with Professor Frances McCutcheon from Roanoke College, who spoke about the organization she runs called Toy Like Me. Toy Like Me seeks to make toys which represent children with disabilities. We also had the opportunity to make some toys for organization, sewing gastric tubes onto stuffed animals. It was an incredible opportunity to hear about this organization's impact and participate in a different type of service project. You can find out more about Toy Like Me here.

February 2024 Meeting

 

In February, we volunteered for the Local Office on Aging's "Soup For Seniors" event, bagging donated food to send to the elderly in the area. The initiative itself delivered over 2,850 bags, and our team helped to bag around 500 of those! It was such a fun opportunity to serve! To learn more about the Local Office on Aging and the Soup for Seniors event, click here. 

January 2024 Meeting

 

At our January 2024 Meeting, Mr Zack Shiffer spoke to us about his work as a small-business owner. He owns the Harley-Davidson branch in the Roanoke area, and he was able to share from experience a bit of his journey towards becoming a small-business owner as well as advice to those interested in pursuing that path. He discussed everything from employees to finances to franchises. It was an interesting and enlightening talk! 

December 2023 Meeting

For our December 2023 meeting, we volunteered at the West End Center. We read with kids, played basketball and other outdoor games, and enjoyed meeting and interacting with the children there. The West End Center is an after school program which offers services to encourage the kids' "holistic" development. It was a wonderful and fun opportunity to serve. Learn more about the West End Center here. 

November 2023 Meeting

 In our November 2023 meeting, we had the pleasure of hearing Mr Chris Ronk speak to us about money and a wise, Biblical approach to personal finances. Mr. Ronk is the Chief Financial Officer at Carolina University and was able to share many practical pieces of advice regarding loans, budgeting, and investing. It was an engaging and helpful talk! We also inducted two new members to the Honor Society: Owen Bishop and Gabriella George.

October 2023 Meeting

 

For our October 2023 meeting, we did a service project for the Friendship House kids after school program, creating an obstacle course at Highland Park for the kids to enjoy, and helping with childcare and play supervision at the park for the afternoon. To learn more about the Friendship house, click here. It was a great time to provide some fun for the kids and bond as a group! 

September 2023 Meeting

 

In our September 2023, we inducted in four new members to the National Homeschool Honor Society: Ben Ronk, Elijah Townsend, Ella Cox, and Gideon Shiffer (new inductees not pictured: Owen Bishop and Gabriella George). After this, we elected officers for the upcoming year, with Leah Bouldin as president, Caleb Giraudeau as Vice President, Ben Ronk as Treasurer, Claire Higgins as secretary, Grace Cordle as webmaster/historian/PR chair, Elijah Townsend as parliamentarian, Madison Hare as snack/devotions coordinator. To close, we discussed plans for potential speakers and service projects for the upcoming year! 

April 2023 Meeting

 For our April 2023 meeting, we met for a time of fellowship to celebrate the end of the year. We also recognized the seniors of our group: Heidi Jackson, Lydia Lankford, Amelia Winn, Nate Giraudeau, Baker Dean, and Bethany Droubay. It was a fun way to end out the year! Congratulations and Godspeed to all of our graduates! 

March 2023 Meeting

 

    For our March meeting, Mr. Childress spoke to us about the topic of grit. He shared about his experiences at the United States Military Academy West Point and his time in the military. He also spoke about his time after the military, pursuing a career and eventually starting his own marketing business, Agile Marketing Collective. His talk was interesting and full of wisdom! 

February Meeting 2023

 

    For our February 2023 meeting, Mr. Bradley Hebert spoke to us about his many trips to Israel, describing what those trips look like and the many stops along the way. He also spoke about how these experiences in Bible places enhances one's faith and enriches Scriptural understanding. It was an interesting and informative talk! 

January Meeting 2023

 At our January meeting, Mr. Mark Dellinger shared his testimony and explained how his Christianity and his work as a lawyer intersected. He shared how he came to know the Lord and how his new Christian convictions changed the course of his work. It was an interesting and inspiring talk! 

December Meeting 2022

For our December meeting, the group served at the ministry called The Least of These. This ministry provides showers, a place to do laundry, assistance in finding housing, clothing, food, and other supplies for homeless in the community. While we were there, we mainly worked in organizing the clothing donations by type, size, and gender. It was inspiring to see another organization in action that provides outreach for those in need. To learn more about The Least of These, click here.