Wilmer Hall in Mobile, Alabama, and Spring Hill College’s Foley Community Service Center are launching the Max Miller Education Program in January.
The program will provide educational support for more than 100 Mobile County middle school students at Chastang-Fournier K-8 School, Parker Pillans Middle School, and the Mobile County Training School. The Max Miller Education Program will bring Wilmer Hall’s successful Education4Life program model to the tutoring program at these schools.
Tutoring in all subjects will be provided by Spring Hill College students under the direction of Jacqui Virgil, EdD, director of Wilmer Hall’s Hamilton Education Program at Williamson Prep Middle School.
“We’re really excited to partner with Spring Hill College to take our education program model into three more area middle schools,” said Pratt Paterson, Wilmer Hal’sl executive director. “I am hopeful that growing our programs will allow us to help even more young people live up to their fullest potential in school and in life. We’re very fortunate to have Jacqui lead the effort.”
Wilmer Hall’s Education4Life program has a 100 percent graduation rate in the 10 years since its inception. The program engages students, tutors, schools, teachers, and parents to ensure that children have the tools they need to achieve academic and life success.
Wilmer Hall serves 65 to 70 children and young adults in five programs, three of which are residential. With the addition of the Max Miller Education Program, the historic institution will serve roughly 170 students in six programs at any given time.
Founded in 1830, Spring Hill College is the oldest Roman Catholic college in the Southeast and the third-oldest Jesuit college in the United States. Spring Hill combines the Jesuit tradition of excellence in education and a commitment to caring for the whole person — mind, body and spirit — with innovative educational experiences.
The Albert S. Foley, SJ, Community Service Center coordinates weekly community service of more than 500 Spring Hill College students each year through 50 nonprofit partners in Mobile.
Adapted from Wilmer Hall’s newsletter
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
