Molded into a Spiritual Leader

Spiritual formation is at the core of the Strake Jesuit experience. Sure, college preparation, academic excellence, extracurricular engagement, and athletic feats are wonderful, and we’re really, really good at all those things. But what most defines a Strake Jesuit experience is the opportunity to renew and redefine one’s relationship with God. 

Robbie Valcarcel’s story is a powerful example of the spiritual transformation that Strake Jesuit can inspire. Robbie came to us, in his own words, as a “somewhat self-absorbed adolescent.” Today, he recalls with a smile what one might term in the lingo of our students as an “SMH moment” (Google if you don’t know the term).  The incident in question was the Freshman service project, where Robbie’s heart was not yet fully invested. 

Now a wiser and spiritually more evolved young man, Robbie looks back with compunction on the waywardness of his youth. He now sees more value in attending Mass or discussing spirituality with one of our Jesuits than in frittering away time scrolling on his phone. He also devotes his time and talent to growing the writing community at Strake Jesuit, serving as Inkwell creative writing club co-president and working on the Inkwell Magazine editorial team.

We are continually called upon at Strake Jesuit to “find God in all things.” This phrase involves discerning what God calls us to do and repudiating that which takes us away from God. For Robbie, as for many others at our school, God can be found through helping the less fortunate. Robbie fondly recalls an experience last summer helping at a camp for young people with physical and mental hardships. While working at the camp, Robbie forged a meaningful personal connection with an adolescent with learning differences and has since helped this person feel like he has a bona fide friend in the world, looking out for him. 

At Jesuit, one of Robbie’s chief inspirations has been his theology teacher, Mr. Jeremy Dunford. Robbie remarks that “Mr. Dunford taught me so much about Catholicism and inspired me to be more Christlike every day.” Mr. Dunford returned the favor when I asked about Robbie: “Robbie is one of the most genuinely kindhearted students I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. He is the exemplar of what it means to live a life of love in action.” Mr. Jorge Roque, S.J., who teaches Robbie English this year, echoes this sentiment in describing him as an “unmistakably kind” young man who expresses a “genuine amazement at the things of God.” 

The Kairos retreat is for many of our students the capstone of their spiritual experience at the school. For Robbie, Kairos was a clear moment of spiritual awakening, where he came to understand more deeply his relationship to God and where he and other retreatants tore down some of the walls that separate us in daily life. Having himself experienced a profound sense of God’s purpose in his life on his inaugural Kairos, Robbie was inspired to lead two further retreats this year. 

It is perhaps fitting that Robbie hopes to pursue a degree in Architectural Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin next year, for his story attests to how Strake Jesuit helps mold us into more spiritual individuals.