My name is Jesse Castrinos, and I am a member of the Charlie Kirk Courage Fellowship with Students for Life of America and a senior at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia. I became involved in the pro-life movement during the summer of 2023 when I attended the National Celebrate Life Rally in Washington, D.C. It was there that I saw the significance of the pro-life movement. I was inspired to start a Students for Life club at my school in the fall of 2023, and I served as its president from the fall of 2023 until the spring of 2025. Since then, I have served as the vice president, mentoring our current president to help him lead the club after I graduate this year.

This past year, our club undertook several projects to support our local Pregnancy Center and educate voters about the abortion ballot initiative that is coming down the pipeline in Virginia. During the fall and spring semesters, members of the PHC Students for Life club wrote more than 200 Embrace Grace letters encouraging young mothers to choose Life, which we delivered to our local Pregnancy Center. We also volunteered at the center’s fundraising gala, assisting with guest check-ins, setup, and teardown. The staff praised our help and said the event wouldn’t have run as smoothly without us.

During the fall semester, we sent students on three door-knocking deployments where our club members knocked on over 1,000 doors and placed over 3,000 phone calls to educate voters about pro-life candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates. To end the semester, PHC hosted a rally with Lt. Governor Winsome Sears, Attorney General Jason Miyares, and Governor Glenn Youngkin. PHC Students for Life collaborated with Patrick Henry College Republicans to do additional phone banking for the statewide and local elections. Unfortunately, the election did not go our way, but PHC Students for Life set a record for the total number of events in a single semester, completing 17 events. In the spring, we focused on reaching students on campus and allowing them to write Embrace Grace letters and put up flyers in the community with information about Standing With You resources.

Planning these events was challenging given the large number of them. Recruiting students for deployments was especially difficult. But even with these hurdles, we still managed to knock on an impressive number of doors and place lots of phone calls. And most importantly, our campus saw how dedicated we were to protecting preborn babies. Patrick Henry College even published an article highlighting all of our events and showing how seriously we take the fight for Life.

After my Fellowship, I will graduate from Patrick Henry College and pursue a full-time career in pro-life and pro-family policy work at the state level. I plan to work with the Idaho Family Policy Center as a Policy Assistant and fight for families and preborn children in Idaho. The Charlie Kirk Courage Fellowship has equipped me with invaluable skills and a supportive community, and I highly recommend it to students eager to make a difference in the political sphere.