Not every college student gets the opportunity to deepen their religious faith while preparing for their future career. That experience is one of the highlights for many students who attend Saint Leo University.

Siblings Isabella and Arielle Jacus experienced that spiritual deepening while attending Saint Leo and found community among both fellow students and their professors. And that community will follow them as they make their pathways in the world, they say.

“I just think the amazing quality of the professors is really important,” said Isabella “Bella” Jacus. “At lots of universities, you are in a big class with hundreds of people, and you can almost be invisible.”

It is just not like that at Saint Leo, she said. “The Saint Leo professors all want to be there and get to know you. They are very real and have genuine relationships with you. I am still in touch with different professors, because at this point, we have forged lifelong relationships not only academically, but as human beings.”

While most students don’t set off for college with plans of getting to know their professors well, she said she found it to be an incredibly special part of her college experience.

Isabella Jacus graduated from Saint Leo in 2021 with two degrees: a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Bachelor of Arts in religion. She now is attending medical school at Florida State University.

Her sister, Arielle, who graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work in 2025, immersed herself in Saint Leo’s University Ministry, participating in daily Mass and gathering with other Catholics interested in growing their faith.

That is, of course, in addition to the classwork. “I was originally interested in working in a hospital, but I didn’t want to be a doctor; that is for my sister,” Arielle Jacus said. “I wanted to help doctors. Medical social work stuck out to me because I could be there in the hospital with the patients. Eventually, I learned more about policy and advocacy and am now interested in going to law school to defend the vulnerable in our country.”

She plans to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), working to score high enough to choose a law school on her own terms.

Arielle Jacus said her sister has been her advisor all along, including when it came to choosing a college for her undergraduate degree.

“When I arrived here, I already had so many people ready to welcome me, which was really sweet,” she said. Isabella had given them a heads up that her little sister would be attending Saint Leo.

Arielle also played soccer for Saint Leo’s Lions in the Sunshine State Conference, as part of a Division II school in the NCAA. “Soccer was easily the next biggest formation of character I had in college,” Arielle Jacus said. “They were definitely some of the most hardworking girls I’ve played with. We made it to the semifinals of the tournament this year which is the farthest the program’s gotten in my four years here, so even though it was a hard loss, it was a positive way to end my career as a Lion.”

As part of her faith life, Arielle Jacus also participated in retreats at Saint Leo. These served as a good break, but also a time when she felt the Lord was calling to her in regard to her life choices, she said.

“What is really big is bringing a friend and showing people the love of Christ on a college campus,” the 21-year-old said. “We try to focus on the way we treat other people, with kindness and respect.”

For Arielle, Catholicism is the center of her life, she said. “It has been the most moving thing for me at Saint Leo — the environment it gave me to grow in my faith.”

It was one of her soccer teammates who encouraged her to attend church on campus. It also helped that the Benedictine monks are right there in the Saint Leo Abbey, as well, she said. They have been serving the Saint Leo community since 1889 when they along with Benedictine sisters, founded the university.

Her older sister agrees about the importance of faith for her and the university. It led her to double major, with religion as her second degree. “I had gone to Catholic school all my life, but being in the Honors Program and being exposed to theology on a higher level made an impact on me,” Isabelle Jacus said. “Both majors shaped me into the person I want to be.”

And what she eventually wants to be is a family doctor who is smart, compassionate, and not afraid to show her big heart.

Both sisters say they plan to stay in Florida, having come from New Jersey, and since their brother is also here, their parents relocated to Pasco County during Arielle’s time at Saint Leo.

“Honestly, I have grown to love the quiet in Pasco County and being in areas where there are not buildings everywhere,” Arielle Jacus said. “The air is fresher, and I can see the stars at night.”