ACE Teachers Wanted: Fighting for Our Children's Future

Notre Dame’s Fighting for Our Children’s Future National Bus Tour, now under way, is helping to give a cross-country platform to two inseparable messages: It’s time to ensure educational excellence for all of America’s kids, and it’s time for talented, faith-filled men and women to step up as teachers and leaders so that Catholic schools can build upon their own legacy of excellence.

Here are several examples of media reports from the tour and from Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) experiences around the country, with special relevance to college seniors who feel drawn to that joy-filled fight for children's futures:

Emily Lazor, a former ACE teacher who now serves as an assistant director in the ACE Teaching Fellows program, was profiled last week by the Archdiocese of Baltimore newspaper because of her journey of faith through Catholic schooling. She recalled the enthusiasm she experienced attending Baltimore schools, plus the ongoing zeal she has shared in Jackson, Miss., schools and now in the ACE program nationwide. “Emily is a perfect example of the kind of person we’re blessed to be able to partner with,” ACE co-founder Rev. Timothy Scully, C.S.C., commented in the article.

Alec Torigian, another former ACE teacher and current ACE Teaching Fellows assistant director, shared an on-air conversation about hope with Mary McDonald, former superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Memphis. The National Bus Tour recently visited a school in Memphis. Dr. McDonald, hosting “Seize the Day” on Memphis radio on Oct. 9, expressed gratitude for the affirmation ACE gives to teachers. She told Alec and ACE co-founder Rev. Sean McGraw, C.S.C., “You’re training people to move up into leadership” at a time when Catholic schools need young educators to extend the teaching apostolate into the future.

Scott Morgan, an ACE graduate who founded Education Pioneers ten years ago to cultivate new leadership for tomorrow’s schools, recently recalled in an online story how ACE Teaching Fellows had inspired him. In the Fordham Institute’s “Flypaper” blog, Scott recalled his ACE days teaching at St. Jude High School in Montgomery, Alabama. “My Notre Dame, ACE, and St. Jude experiences truly changed my life and career trajectory,” he told blogger Andy Smarick. “Above all else, I learned how challenging—and rewarding—it is to take your passion and skills and direct them toward the most difficult challenges we face in our nation and to do this important work side-by-side with incredibly talented and committed people and in partnership with underserved students, families, and communities.”

Maggie Smith and Stacy Wall, ACE graduates who now teach in the South Bend, Ind., area, talked to widely known Catholic blogger Lisa Hendey about their experiences. What attracted them to ACE when they were college students? “I loved the idea of not only getting to teach my students subjects like reading and math, but also getting to share with them about our faith,” recalled Maggie. “In addition to working in Catholic schools, I was attracted to living in community. I had come to realize that our faith journey is never one that we travel alone….”

ACE’s transformative work in inner-city Catholic schools in Tucson, Ariz., particularly through the Notre Dame ACE Academies initiative, recently attracted the attention of Notre Dame Magazine in a piece called “The Resurrection Days.” But even before that initiative had reported its latest evidence of student success, distinguished New York Times columnist Samuel Freedman found inspiration in the community of ACE teachers living in Tucson.

Faith-filled young people could help point the way toward a hope-filled future, he wrote, quoting Rev. Nate Wills, C.S.C., a former ACE teacher. “It’s a reflection of the disciples,” Father Nate said of the Tucson teachers. “This is what the apostles did when Jesus sent them to teach. They set up communities in the midst of difficult circumstances.”

What would you fight for? Check out ACE's answer as presented in a recent NBC TV spot. Then find out more about ACE Teaching Fellows from ACE's Matt Gelchion at .