So wait…What are you doing?

If you somehow wandered onto this site and found yourself asking who is this girl? What is she doing? Then, this is the post for you!

My name is Annie Judd, and I am a daughter of the Father and a member of Christ’s body, the Church. I am originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and have a crazy wonderful family with two loving parents, four sisters, and one brother. This past year I graduated from St. Louis University with a double major in Social Work and Catholic Studies, and I am currently in NYC beginning a year of service with Seton Teaching Fellows!

But what is Seton? Seton Education Partners is an organization that strives to alleviate the shrinking levels of Catholic, virtue-based education in America. Partnering with Brilla School System (see video above), Seton brings Christ to children and families who are hurting as a result of over 1500 catholic schools closing since 2006, and it strives to be an opportunity-equalizing force for growth in education and excellence of the whole person. A part of this organization is Seton Teaching Fellows, an initiative where young adults give a year to serve with these communities, which is what I will be a part of this year!

Seton Teaching Fellows accompanies, develops, and challenges young Catholics to serve students, families, and each other by imitating the love of Christ the Teacher in underserved communities and beyond.

Seton Teaching Fellows Mission Statement

Fellows live in intentional communities based in prayer and a call to radically love those we serve and live with. This year, I will be in an apartment with three other wonderful ladies (who you will hear much more about) in a walk up of thirteen fellows in total. These are the people the Lord has distinctly put in my life to sanctify me and I them! Additionally, receiving a modest stipend, we live in solidarity with our families, shopping at the same supermarkets, taking the same public transit, and going to the same laundromat. Our primary focus is to serve with them, not doing something for them. My service role will be to aid the student service team at Brilla Veritas during the day and running the catholic after school program, El Camino, for Kindergartners! Reflecting on my journey to get here, I am consoled with how intentional the Lord was in my discernment.

The Lord introduced me to this program my sophomore year of college through a friend at SLU. She told me about a family friend who was coming to campus to talk with students about a teaching opportunity in the Bronx, NY, and that I should grab coffee with her. However, teaching was the LAST thing on my mind in terms of profession. I had so many other (much more fanciful + idealistic) ways I imagined myself doing after college, but teaching was certainly not one of them. But because I loved my friend and didn’t want to let her down, I went. Sometimes a small seed is all the Lord needs to help flourish into a wonderful tree.

Suddenly, I felt my heart shifting from wanting to go straight into graduate school for social work to doing a year of service. Fast forward to senior year, and I was in-between two amazing programs, both of which would allow me to be in ministry and live in a great community of people striving for sanctity. One morning, I sat before the Lord in the chapel and began asking him questions similar to these: “What am I good at? What do I want? What will be best for me?” It was at that moment the Lord took a hammer to my pride and my perception of this decision up until that point. He said, “Annie, this is not about you.”

“This is about the people I have created you to serve,” He said, “I want you to give everything.” Only then did I realize that while they were both amazing programs, Seton was the one that would completely call myself out of my complacency. With zero experience in the classroom and (frankly) little to no desire to be a teacher, I surrendered myself to the Lord, trusting that He would plant that desire to serve just as He had done before.

And now, I am here writing on the rooftop of my new apartment in the South Bronx, a heart filled with a deep desire to serve this community. I could not be more excited, yet nervous, yet anxious, yet at peace with where the Lord has me right now. As you journey with me through this site, I ask that you keep me, but more importantly, my scholars and this community in your prayers! Thanks!