Christina is a 15 year-old home schooled 10^th grader.  As a young woman she personifies all the guiding principles of the Knights of Columbus: Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism.  Her academic, athletic, community and parish contributions are significant acts of Charity, Unity, Fraternity, and Patriotism.  Her community work with the parish Youth Group accentuates her Charity and her high moral values of putting others before herself.  She is a young lady who is humble, yet proud of being an American and demonstrating her love for the Catholic Faith.

Cristina, like her 5 brothers and sisters, is home schooled by her parents and has a very rigorous and strict academic curriculum that is regulated by the State.  The Virginia Home Instruction Statute (§22.1-254.1 C) requires parents to provide "evidence of progress" at the end of the school year.  When she took the California Achievement Test and also the PSAT she excelled, scoring in the 95 plus percentile for college-bound sophomores.  She is an above 4.0 CGPA student who has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.  She is so academically advanced that she will begin taking college level courses starting her junior year!  She excels in English and Literature, however her favorite subject is an Apologetics class because she thoroughly enjoys how the Pastor explains what it means to be a Catholic and how to refute those who challenge Catholic doctrine.

Christina is a young woman of very high character.  She is a member of her parish Youth Group, where she performs many community and Parish charitable activities.  One very noteworthy summer Diocesan youth program activity is when she, along with other young men and women, participates in a week long work camp supporting a "habitat for humanity" type project - helping someone in need.  The nature of this work is very labor intensive as they build something for a family in need, such as a wheel chair ramp, a new set of stairs, or inside a home putting up handrails.  All the hard labor she provides for this week is an act of love and charity, but her true reward is seeing the smiles and gratitude on the recipients' faces when they are done.  She recently played a role in a major fundraiser for the Parish's Youth Group by participating in the Mulch sale and delivery program.  The Parish came to the Knights of Columbus Pope John Paul II Council 4522 and asked for the Knights to support this major Youth Group fundraiser and several Knights participated, and worked side-by-side with her and her family.  Approximately 2,000 bags of mulch were delivered in the early morning of March 14, 2009 to her parish and for more than four hours she toiled and strained lifting these 85 pound bags off pallets and loading them onto trailers, flat beds and pick-up trucks.  After loading the delivery vehicles she, with other volunteers from the Knights and Parish, delivered these bags of mulch to many homes.  It was truly a "hard labor of love" and this young woman truly exemplified high character values of charity - sweat labor where the only reward knows you did something good for a worthy cause, and unity - working side by side with other youth group members, Knights, and being together with her family.  She never complained about all the hard work and was an inspiration to everyone.

Christina participates in many Pro-Life activities to include the annual March for Life in Washington, DC, a monthly Parish rosary that is conducted outside an abortion clinic (rain, sleet, or snow), and in the diocesan annual "life chain" that is a Pro-Life demonstration that stretches for miles.  She is a very humble young woman who is very unpretentious and unassuming; never seeks attention for herself but rather does everything possible to support and bring positive attention to others.

Christina is very active in many activities and excels at everything in which she participates.  For varsity level basketball she was selected as one of the league's all-star players!  She is very musically talented as she plays both the clarinet and guitar.  Her creativeness really comes alive when she participates in a drama club where she loves to perform.  She loves art and does a lot of painting and drawing.  She has a gift for articulating the logic for any particular topic, and she participates in a debate as a member of a regional communications club.  She recently competed in a debate tournament and was one of the stars of the debate.  Christina’s special achievements include being on the varsity basketball team in the 10th grade, and being voted to her league's all-star team, and maintaining a CGPA of over 4.0.

Christina is very involved with her family for many of the above activities.  She is home schooled and therefore spends much of her day with her parents, and then after school she participates in sport activities such as basketball and tennis, with her parents in attendance.  Her parents are very involved in the Parish Youth program and they are present with her during the meetings or activities.  Her parents are the parish Pro-Life Coordinators and Christina is involved in all of the Pro-Life activities with her parents. They are truly a model family when it comes to being involved with their children and molding and shaping their children's character.

Christina Mathews is truly an outstanding young woman.