SJU Student Brings Service Back to Chanhassen

Saint John’s University senior Derek Pass was named an Extraordinary Service Award winner after turning campus volunteer work into a plan for long-term service in Chanhassen. (csbsju.edu) Pass was one of three 2026 honorees announced by the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, alongside Connor Brynteson and Kobe Forbes. The university said the award recognizes sophomores, juniors or seniors whose work advances community, justice and the common good through Benedictine values or Catholic Social Teaching. (csbsju.edu) In the university profile published April 20, 2026, Pass said service at Saint John’s changed how he sees his role after graduation. He said he wants to keep helping in Chanhassen through the Knights of Columbus and by assisting with laundry support for people who need it. (csbsju.edu) That local piece is concrete. The Chanhassen Knights of Columbus operates as John Roach Council 10031 at St. Hubert Catholic Community and lists regular meetings and service events on its 2026 calendar, including an April 25-26 Tootsie Roll Drive. (chankofc.org) Laundry assistance is a small-scale service with direct costs attached: washers, dryers, soap and time. National groups that organize these efforts, including Laundry Love, map local programs that help families and individuals wash clothes and bedding at neighborhood laundromats. (laundrylove.org) Saint John’s framed Pass’s award as part of a campus pattern in which students build service habits before bringing them home. The three winners are scheduled to be honored at a banquet on April 27, 2026. (csbsju.edu) The Knights of Columbus says the Catholic fraternal organization logged more than 75 million volunteer hours and donated $875 million to charitable causes in its latest reporting. Pass’s next step is narrower and more local: keep showing up in Chanhassen after college. (kofc.org, csbsju.edu)