VT Catholic Campus Ministry 2026 Issue 1

Alumni Corner: Alumni Corner: Austin Mee Austin Mee Alumni Corner: Austin Mee Growing up I had limited experiences of being evangelized by anyone, but I was catechized well. I knew a lot about who God was but, in fact, did not know God in relationship. During my freshman year at VT, I made friends with the right people at the Newman House. Several people including Chris Hitzelberger, Fr. David Sharland, and Andrew DeCelle really poured into me and built a firm foundation of encountering Christ through events and trips organized by the CCM and fostering that relationship in a variety of daily and weekly ways. I can’t imagine what life would be like without these men in my life and excellent peers around me. Eventually after graduating, I ended up needing to figure out a lot of things without being surrounded by the same friends. My long-time dating relationship ended unexpectedly and threw me into a crisis of no longer having the plan for my life figured out. In retrospect, I see this as God working powerfully to give me a chance to discern a vocation other than marriage. I was able to explore feelings that I could possibly be called to the consecrated life. I started exploring with both Youth Apostles and the Capuchins. In time I found a great love for serving young people and decided to quit my engineering job to try out the Consecrated Life in Youth Apostles for at least a year. I ended up never looking back, having found a great peace about my life in both the beauty and the warts of my community. I made my lifetime vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience the summer of 2024 and had been mainly doing work as a youth minister in the New River Valley. However, this year my life is one of an evangelizer of high schoolers at Bishop O’Connell in Arlington. My life is deeply rooted in daily prayer and community life with my brothers. But I spend my apostolic efforts most days roaming the O’Connell cafeteria, helping to lead retreats, and otherwise being in position to walk with young people wherever they are. I know at least 400 students by name but really pour into a select group I see great potential in. The plan is to witness to them that life is more than sports, money, and grades…that God not only loves them but likes them, and his plan for them can be scary but will be full of peace and joy. I love my life and thank God that CCM played such a crucial role in discovering it. Class of 2017