Maggie Irelan Holmes '18
Maggie's story began back in 2017, as a high school student in the beginning of Junior year. She decided to transfer to St. Pius X Catholic High School, and it was one of the best decisions she'd ever made! She felt that she needed a positive, spiritual change in her life, and St. Pius X was just that. She was placed in Borgia House, whose motto is "Create a life worth living", which is exactly what she did. When she was placed in Borgia house, she felt that this motto was exactly what she needed to hear at that time in her life.
Starting from the beginning of her journey, at the age of just 10 years old, she won 2 photography contests. One being a pretty major award at the North American Native American Photography Contest at Cahokia Mounds in Cahokia, Illinois. The other being at the Jefferson County Fair. As one can imagine, the older she got, the more she expressed an interest in taking photos.
As most seniors in high school do, she contemplated other professions that she was interested in. However, her artistic eye gravitated towards photography. In addition to her photography, she also had a love for Business Marketing and Graphic Design. She thought it would be really neat to integrate these passions into each other.
She started her journey after St. Pius X doing photography and marketing for a group in St. Louis led by the St. Louis Tourism Bureau. After this, she decided to go out on her own, and start advertising sessions for families, couples, and businesses. She did everything from full scale weddings to branding sessions for local businesses. This quickly took off, and landed her where she is now.
Currently, she has over 150 clients that she regularly takes photos for. These sessions range from family portraits to full on business branding sessions all over the St. Louis area. In addition, she is also a full time wedding photographer. She is based out of South St. Louis, and has a team of 4 assistant photographers that aid in a variety of tasks including photo, video, and drone photography. This year is actually their biggest year yet with events and sessions scheduled.
In addition to this, she also works a part time job doing photography & graphic design in Kirkwood, Missouri. She is also married to her best friend, Ryan, and they reside in Crystal City, Missouri. They enjoy traveling, the outdoors, and he also is a major teammate in all of her photography endeavors!
All in all, she credits her work ethic and drive to skills that she learned during her time at St. Pius X. The staff there motivated her to be the best possible version of herself she could be. In addition, her relationship with God was strengthened there, and that is something she will cherish for the rest of her life.
It's hard to pinpoint one thing she loved most at St. Pius X. She loved actually enjoying going to school every day - a feeling a lot of kids never experience. For a long time, she dreaded going to school. Waking up, ready to take on the school day, is a feeling she will never take for granted! Her favorite memory from St. Pius X was her Art class. She absolutely adored Mrs. Cathy Needham who led her class at the time. She has been an inspiration to her for several years. She always gave her confidence!
If she could give any advice to the students at St. Pius X today, she would say “Create YOUR life to be a life worth living!”. She is also a legacy student of her grandfather, Steve Stoll, who recently wrote a book about St. Pius X - "The History of St. Pius X High School" by Steve Stoll. She believes the book will be available for purchase soon at the school. She highly recommends checking it out! He has worked so diligently on it, and the history is fascinating!
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