For St. Anselm’s senior, spinal injury helped him form deeper faith
For Aidan Watkins, who graduates this year from St. Anselm’s Abbey School in Washington, D.C., an unfortunate turn of events during his freshman year of high school resulted in strengthening his faith, inspiring his participation in a scientific study and even confirming his decision of where to continue his education.
“I injured my spine freshman year playing basketball – the sport I love more than anything else – (and) I was forced to stop playing (basketball) and it got in the way of living a normal life,” Watkins recalled. “For a long time it felt like there was no end in sight, and I started to feel hopeless – that’s when I finally turned to God and started a small practice of reading my Bible daily, which ended up having a profound impact on me.”
An altar server since the age of 8, Watkins and his parents, Julie and Ed Watkins, attend St. Ann Parish in Tenleytown, where Aidan’s uncle and godfather, Msgr. James Watkins, is the pastor.