The ACE Post

Dear Maeve-before-ACE,

You’re feeling pretty good about yourself, aren’t you? You have just graduated from Williams College, a prestigious school, where you were captain of the lacrosse team and were surrounded by tons of super smart people. You have “suffered” through eight-hour stints at the library, written several 15-page papers, and done this all while maintaining a decent social life and enjoying your college experience. You figure you know yourself pretty well at this point. You are hardworking, motivated, and certain that you know how to handle a challenge. Next year you’ll start at Our Lady of Grace as the third-grade teacher. You’re sort of nervous to be moving across the country to live with people you barely know. The teaching part–that’ll be difficult–but, as I said, you’re a hardworking, motivated person, right? Surely you’ll figure it out. You know yourself pretty well, after all.

“The servant-leader is servant first…It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.” –Robert Greenleaf

Current ACE Teaching Fellow Nick Padrnos (ACE 22, Biloxi) details his recent trek back to campus for the Notre Dame-Stanford football game. 

For me, the feelings I get from teaching are probably closely related to that same feeling that a preschooler gets when they get to school and see that they are going to get to play with a tub full of dried pasta noodles: excitement and exhilaration. Although I am often faced with struggles and challenges, ACE has showed me how the amount of purpose and growth outweighs all else. As a result, this new extraordinary adventure of teaching has helped me recognize my inner calling, my gift to share, and my fundamental philosophy which will guide my life forever: teach with love, teach with respect, and teach with goofiness.

The first thing that my students notice when they walk into the classroom is the large sign that shouts, “CHOOSE JOY” above the front whiteboard. Just like last year, I enjoyed waiting the first couple days it took for a student to finally ask (usually without raising their hand, and in the middle of a very important lesson), “Miss Coutre, why does it say “CHOOSE JOY” in the front of the classroom?”

I can do hard things.

Dear Student,

You have no idea how much I appreciate you and how much I love you. You can’t grasp it, because you don’t see what goes on between 3 p.m. and 8 a.m. 

I’m the type of person who always has a plan—a plan for next weekend, a plan for water evacuation if we accidentally drive off a bridge, or five different escapes routes from any given room. This quirk of mine was often amusing for my housemates in ACE. We laughed a lot, but what can I say? I grew up in the suburbs of DC with an older brother. Being tough and resilient have always been important values where the metro traffic meets the cornfields, and tough was often synonymous with prepared.

Hola desde Santiago,

Our group has just finished our first full week here in beautiful Santiago! Since our last post, we have had the blessing of traveling to many places in Ecuador. 

During the first stress-laden three weeks of school, the ACE Indianapolis community made its way through all eight Harry Potter movies. I loved Harry Potter when I was in elementary school but I hadn’t seen any of the movies or read any of the books in a decade. While the movies were really for background noise as we planned and came to know each other, the glimpses of brightly colored spells and the familiar movements of the soundtrack brought back the dormant feelings of enchantment and adventure buried in the childhood section of my brain. 

So, here we are. My calendar tells me we’re six weeks in, though I think twenty seems closer to capturing the reality of how full this time has been. I’m sitting before a Richmond sunset (#RichLove #RVACE #VirginiaIsForACErs), sipping rooibos tea out of my favorite purple mug as I write these words—a beautiful evening, no doubt. Today was, as always, a whirlwind; as always, a crash course in adulting; as always, a miracle. This morning, like all others before it, began the same way: a skilled execution of the classic “three snooze n’ roll,” fumbling for glasses from table to ground to face, the quickest bedside reading (one page a morning, try it), and, like clockwork, one singular thought has moved into my mind.

Every member of ACE Teaching Fellows gets a card just like the one above. There’s one on my bedside table and an extra in my wallet—just to be safe. Wherever I am, I have the ACE Morning Offering with me.

“Níl aoin tinteán mar do thinteán féin”

This is an old Irish proverb meaning “there is no place like home.” On a recent brisk, magnificent fall morning in Indianapolis, I attended an Irish Mass. It was the closing ceremony of the annual “Indy Irish Fest” held at a local park. 

“Why?”

This is the question I heard when I told people that I was staying in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Why Oklahoma?” Good question. If I’d moved back home to mostly sunny Sacramento, California, I would’ve been taken care of. Here? I think 50 degrees is freezing. Most of my Oklahoma friends (my “Oklahomies”) are either religious sisters or married women. I eat crackers and cheese for lunch four days in a row because I just paid a mortgage, but I can’t be at home because I’m coaching, directing, grading, or planning. So why’d I stay a third year at Saint Catherine School? 

Navigating life after college inevitably teaches you some hard-earned lessons. However, I think that serving as an ACE teacher brings with it a different type of wisdom. Thinking about ACE? Read the fine print one more time. You have no idea about the challenges and joys you are signing up for!