EXCLUSIVE | How one Catholic nonprofit is fighting for students’ faith before they even reach campus

For many young Catholics, the transition from high school to college can become a spiritual breaking point as they encounter an increasingly secular culture. But one northern Virginia Catholic nonprofit is working to ensure students arrive on campus with more than a dorm assignment and class schedule — offering them a community rooted in faith before classes even begin.

The Associates of St. John Bosco (ASJB) connects incoming freshmen with Catholic communities and spiritual resources while training current college students to become leaders and evangelists among their peers.

“We do everything we can to help college students keep their faith during the college years,” Danielle Zuccaro, executive director of ASJB, told Zeale News in a July 16 interview.

Through its College Nights, dorm-room faith bundles, student leadership programs, scholarships, and a national evangelization competition, ASJB supports young Catholics at a pivotal moment in their spiritual lives. 

Connecting with students before college

Much of the group’s work takes place during the crucial summer between high school graduation and the first semester of college. Zuccaro said those few months can shape whether students find a Catholic community or quietly drift away from the faith.

Drawing on eight years of volunteer service in Catholic campus ministry, Zuccaro said she met countless students who did not know that a Catholic ministry existed at their college. Others arrived without any connection to a Catholic community and soon stopped practicing their faith.

“I met students without any connections on the college campus who just completely abandoned the faith and maybe came back later,” she recalled. “But more often than not, they just completely fell away at the beginning because they didn't have a connection point to the ministry or to the Catholic community.” 

Through an analysis conducted with the help of a statistician, ASJB estimated that the share of Catholics practicing their faith drops by half — from about 20% at age 18 to about 10% by age 20 — during the years when many young adults enter college.

“What we try to do is foster those connections before they arrive on the college campus,” Zuccaro added.

Through its College Nights program, ASJB hosts gatherings at parishes across Northern Virginia for incoming freshmen and transfer students. Attendees hear directly from current college students about living as Catholics in college, maintaining a strong prayer life, navigating social and ideological pressures, and finding a faithful community on campus. 

Organizers divide students into small groups based on the colleges they plan to attend, placing those headed to the same campus together when possible. The groups discuss opportunities and challenges they may encounter on their particular campuses. Upperclassmen active in a campus ministry help connect them with Newman Centers, Catholic student groups, Bible studies, Mass schedules, and welcome events.

“They arrive on the college campus with a solid base of new contacts on their phone and a community waiting to welcome them with open arms,” Zuccaro said.

Students who participated in ASJB programs attended approximately 60 colleges across the country last year, according to Zuccaro.

Kate Merrill, an ASJB participant preparing to attend Florida Atlantic University in the fall, said she wanted “to serve a purpose other than myself” but initially felt uncertain about attending a College Night with students she didn’t know. That uncertainty disappeared as soon as she walked through the doors.

“I was greeted with the utmost respect, and I felt like I was in a community I belonged in,” she told Zeale News. “I loved listening to the talks. They really helped me understand why taking this time to reflect on where my faith is is so important.”

Merrill said ASJB’s associates and ambassadors made her feel supported in her faith journey without pressuring her.

“They really made it feel like I was a part of their environment,” she explained.

Merill added that the experience strengthened her desire to become more involved in the Church rather than join the many Catholics who stop practicing their faith in college.

“I’m so thankful I got this experience, and now I have solidified what I want my faith journey to look like as I attend Florida Atlantic University in the fall,” she said. “If I could give any advice to people wanting to attend ASJB College Night, do it. Take the one hour to sit down and just think about where your faith is and where you want it to go.”

The organization also gives incoming college freshmen a “Bosco Bundle,” a collection of Catholic books and sacramentals designed for their dorm rooms. Bundles may include a desk crucifix, a holy water bottle, an image of St. John Bosco, a Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and spiritual classics such as “Introduction to the Devout Life.” 

Zuccaro said the seemingly simple gift gives students a visible reminder of their identity as they enter an environment where “secular culture can often have the last word.” 

“It’s an outward sign, a simple sign, that in this room I will be a faithful Catholic,” she said. “It holds the student accountable too.”

Some students have later told the organization that a Bosco Bundle helped them return to or discover the Catholic faith, Zuccaro added.

ASJB’s founding: Building a Catholic ‘team’

ASJB was founded in 2011 by Father Christopher Vaccaro, a priest of the Diocese of Arlington who saw young Catholics losing their faith as they entered college.

Father Vaccaro, who has spent much of his priesthood forming young adults, initially planned to establish a scholarship fund for Catholic students preparing to serve the Church. After saving his Mass stipends as a young priest for the project, he worked with an attorney to incorporate the effort as a nonprofit.

The mission soon expanded as Father Vaccaro recognized what Zuccaro described as a serious gap between high school faith formation and college campus ministry.

“Our young people are falling through the cracks as they enter college. They are literally falling through the cracks to the tune of 85% or more,” Zuccaro said, describing the organization’s early motivation. “So Father Vaccaro asked, ‘What can we do to stop this?’”

Father Vaccaro found inspiration in college athletic teams, whose members often arrive on campus early, train and eat together, travel across campus together, and quickly develop a strong shared identity. He envisioned young Catholics entering college with the same sense of belonging and purpose.

“If sports teams could do it, why can’t Catholics do it?” Zuccaro said, explaining the priest’s reasoning. “Why can’t Catholics have their ‘team’ before they arrive on the college campus?”

Zuccaro said she’s met several college athletes who describe time with their team as “family time,” an image that closely reflects ASJB’s mission because “the Catholic Church is our family.”

“These are a network of like-minded peers who are choosing to faithfully live out the faith in an environment that seeks to stifle it,” she added.

ASJB models its approach after St. John Bosco, the 19th-century priest who evangelized and educated disadvantaged young people in Turin, Italy.

The word “Associates” in the organization’s name reflects its emphasis on empowering young Catholics to become partners in that mission, with the intention being that the students ASJB serves “would become associates of the man who is our patron,” Zuccaro explained. Thus, rather than relying primarily on older administrators, college students give talks, lead small groups, manage outreach, help organize events, and mentor incoming freshmen.

“It’s really a student-run effort,” Zuccaro said. “The young people are the ones trained to carry out this mission and to evangelize their peers.”

She added that the program encourages students to use their college breaks not only for work or travel but also to serve the Church through the apostolate. 

ASJB also operates yearlong associate and ambassador programs that provide college students with formation and leadership training. The programs prepare participants to serve their campuses, younger students, and the Church.

Zuccaro compared entering college without a Catholic support system to facing a tidal wave without roots.

“Even if you have a good foundation from your family, if you don’t have a root system on the campus — that’s your connections or your family — it is so easy to get swept away,” she said. “I have seen this time and time again.”

Zuccaro cautioned against assuming students who leave the Church during college will inevitably return when they marry or have children, though this is always the prayer.

“We cannot be so sure,” she said.

Alongside its college formation events, ASJB awards scholarships to students from the Diocese of Arlington who intend to serve the Church through religious vocations or apostolic work after graduation.

Bringing campus evangelization nationwide

ASJB has broadened its reach nationally through the RISE Awards — short for Renewal through Innovative Student Evangelization — which award funding to Catholic campus ministries and Newman Centers for creative projects designed to engage students who might not otherwise participate in campus ministry.

After piloting the program in 2024, ASJB opened it to schools nationwide in 2025. During its first national cycle, 29 schools from across the country submitted proposals for their projects, seeking grants ranging from about $3,000 to $50,000, according to Zuccaro. 

ASJB invited the finalists to Washington, D.C., for an in-person pitch competition called “The Forge,” which Zuccaro described as a place “where Catholic ideas are tried, tested, and rise to the top.” There, students presented their projects to a panel of judges and answered questions about budgeting, logistics, and implementation.

Zuccaro said the competition embraces the idea that “iron sharpens iron,” and participants “really do rise to the occasion.” ASJB plans to announce the winners this summer. 

The winning ministries will implement their projects during the upcoming academic year and report the results to ASJB. They will also submit project plans, budgets, and videos documenting their work, which ASJB plans to compile into a national database of evangelization strategies for other campus ministers.

Zuccaro said campus ministries have already contacted ASJB about using the finalists’ ideas to draw more students into the faith.

“Creativity does exist out there, but the ideas aren’t shared,” Zuccaro said. “We’re trying to create that for campus ministries so that even more students can be served.”

Across each of its programs, ASJB pursues the same goal: to reach young Catholics before they become disconnected from the Church, surround them with a community rooted in Christ, and equip them to carry the faith to others.