(Feb. 7-9)
ACE in the City:
Mobile has one of the largest Catholic populations in the Deep South and was one of the first cities to host ACE Teaching Fellows 20 years ago. Today, six current ACE teachers serve four schools in the Diocese of Mobile: Most Pure Heart of Mary School, Little Flower Catholic School, St. Mary Catholic School, and McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. Mobile also has a very active group of ACE Advocates, a group of young professionals, former ACE teachers, and Catholic School supporters who work to increase commitment to, support of, and innovation for Catholic Schools in the Mobile area. The Advocates have hosted a number of exciting events including teacher appreciation baskets, financial aid nights, a Lenten retreat, Taco Margarita Night in support of ACE Teachers, mentors, and principals, a Catholic Schools essay contest, a World Youth Day event for high school teens, and monthly meetings.
Abby Salazar and Alec Torigian, both assistant directors of ACE Teaching Fellows , Sarah Greene, director of ACE Advocates, and Drew Clary, assistant director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives (which houses the Alliance for Catholic Education), all served in Mobile while earning their masters in education in the ACE Teaching Fellows Program.
Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program graduate Alesa Weiskopf currently serves as the assistant principal and fifth grade teacher at Little Flower School.
Where We’ll Be:
Friday, February 7
8:00 a.m. CST — Mass at Little Flower School and Church with Archbishop Rodi
2053 Government St. — Mobile, AL 36606
11:00 a.m. CST — School visit to Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic School
304 Sengstak Street — Mobile, AL 36603
1:00 p.m. CST — School visit to Little Flower Catholic School
2103 Government St. — Mobile, AL 36606
Award Recipients:
The University of Notre Dame Sorin Award for Service to Catholic Schools
The Notre Dame Club of Mobile is a club of University alumni and friends in the Mobile and surrounding Gulf Coast areas. With open arms, the Club has embraces the Alliance for Catholic Education and made Mobile a home to ACE teachers for the past 20 years and counting. Families in the club have generously offered meals, family time, and other means of support to the ACE community throughout the years, both in Mobile and nearby Biloxi. The Club has made supporting native Mobilians who choose to attend Notre Dame a primary focus of their mission, and some of those students have since gone on to become ACE teachers themselves. Going beyond ACE, the Club has also made it a mission of theirs to support Catholic education through advocacy and fundraising for many years, and students and ACErs alike commend them for their dedication.
The University of Notre Dame Champion of Education Award
Chad Fincher is a member of the Alabama State House of Representatives, representing the 102nd district in Mobile County since 2006. He first took up the cause of education reform in 2011 when he helped to pass the Students First Act House Sponsor. The mission of Students First is four-part: to change the course of failing American education by generating strong teachers, ensuring that every child, regardless of their geographic location or economic status, has access to a great education and the best schools, fighting ineffective practices and bureaucracy to redirect funds to education, and to increase parent and community engagement in education. Later in 2013, Fincher also sponsored the School Flexibility Act, now known as the Alabama Accountability Act, which has been praised as transformational education legislation that will bring school choice to Alabama and give school systems unprecedented flexibility to innovate and improve.