For Emily Staub, deciding to study occupational therapy in college flows naturally from witnessing her mother’s work with children as a special education teacher, and her own advocacy for life at the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington and as a member of the Archdiocesan Youth Leadership Team.
“I’ve been watching my mom do special education throughout my life. Seeing that, I know I want to work with children with special needs,” said Staub, a member of the class of 2024 at Holy Cross who will be attending Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and be a part of the Honors College there, studying occupational therapy.
Occupational therapists help people with physical, sensory or cognitive problems to learn or regain skills needed for daily living. Staub noted that as an occupational therapist, she will be able to work in a variety of settings, including in a school system, hospital or rehabilitation center.
Her family members – including her parents, Shannon and Chris Staub, along with Emily and her brother Ryan, a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda; her sister Lauren, a freshman at Holy Cross; and her youngest brother Colin, a seventh grader at Mother of God School in Gaithersburg – are parishioners at St. John Neumann Church in Gaithersburg.
Along with being inspired by her mother’s example, Emily Staub noted that her dad has “taught me how to dedicate myself to other people and to be a selfless person.”
Being raised in a Catholic family provided Staub with a foundation of faith and a strong belief in standing up for life. At Holy Cross, she served as the president of the pro-life club there, LOTAs for Life. (LOTA stands for Ladies of the Academy.) Students in that club raised money for local pro-life pregnancy aid centers and outreach programs, and they also joined the annual March for Life.
As a member of the Archdiocesan Youth Leadership Team, Emily Staub participated in a question-and-answer session with Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory following the annual Youth Mass of Celebration and Thanksgiving at St. Matthew’s Cathedral preceding the March for Life. She also spoke at that Mass about the importance of life issues such as abortion, assisted suicide and the death penalty.
“All life is valuable,” she said in an interview.
At the Academy of the Holy Cross, Staub was also active in the peer ministry program, helping to organize religious events like Masses, retreats and the school’s annual day of service. She baked chocolate chip cookies for the Bake for Hope bake sale at her school that raises funds for charity. Staub also played basketball for three years for the Holy Cross Tartans.
Reflecting on her faith, Staub said she relies on prayer, and she added that God has “been with me in everything I’ve been through and everywhere I’ve been. If I need something, I can go to Him.”
Staub, who earlier graduated from Mother of God school, is active with the youth group at St. John Neumann Parish and volunteers as an usher and lector at her church, and as a Eucharistic minister during Masses at Holy Cross.
Like her classmates, she began her freshman year in the fall of 2020 taking online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic until Holy Cross transitioned back to in-person learning the next year. That time with her family ended up being meaningful, she said.
“I really grew a lot with my siblings. When we were home together, we got to do things we normally couldn’t, because we were so busy,” she said, noting that she and her siblings made boats and raced them in a stream near their house.
During the pandemic, Staub and her mother made Catholic jewelry together, including rosary bracelets and necklaces and earrings with religious medals. They donated the proceeds to St. John Neumann Parish, which has a thrift store.
“It was really cool to see people walking around with jewelry” that they made, Staub said, adding, “It was cool that my jewelry was part of someone’s faith life.”
As her graduation from the Academy of the Holy Cross approached, Staub said, “I’m really excited to go to college.” But she added, “I’m also sad, leaving behind my Holy Cross life.”
Staub said a key thing she will take with her from her experience at Holy Cross is “probably just confidence, knowing who I am, and not letting anyone change that… For me, sticking with my beliefs will help me at Duquesne.”
