Students at St. Francis Xavier School in Winooski engaged in a number of activities during the recent Catholic Schools Week.

One successful service project was a school-wide food drive to benefit the Winooski Food Shelf. The fifth-grade class coordinated the drive, collected the food and loaded up the parish truck for delivery.

Principal Eric Becker praised the efforts of the organizers and the response from the entire student body. “The theme of Catholic Schools Week this year was ‘Learn. Serve. Lead. Succeed.’ This project combined all those elements,” he said. “Our students learned about the needs in our surrounding community and how to address some of those needs. Our fifth graders took the lead in organizing and executing the food drive. Every grade joined in the effort to serve our neighbors and we all succeed when we work to help those in need.”