ACE Advocates News

Picture this: Michael Faggella-Luby, a first-year ACE teacher juggling the multiple demands of teaching high school chemistry and English, opens the door to his ninth grade English class. There, among the crowd of students, is Thomas—a tall and wiry freshman brimming with energy. Unlike his classmates, who are seated in the rows of desks, Thomas—shoeless and shirt tails untucked—has shimmied up the support pole of the classroom. Michael’s gaze follows the pole upwards, to meet Thomas’s confident grin: “Hi, Mr. F!” Michael’s immediate reaction: a silent thought to himself, “There’s a lot going on here.” Those who know Michael now might be struck by the prescience of that silent observation. After all, Michael’s adventures with Thomas in the late 1990s in Jacksonville, Florida, formed the seeds of what has become Michael’s life-long career as a scholar of Special Education. 

April Adalim, one of ACE Teaching Fellows’ newest graduates, will be breaking ground this spring. Having committed to a third year of teaching middle school English Language Arts at St. Catherine in Tulsa, Oklahoma—the site of her ACE placement—April will be joining the community of St. Catherine in constructing a playground three years in the making. 

Photo from www.standrewut.org

When Patrick Jefferies became principal at St. Andrew Catholic School outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, he made a commitment to foster a hospitable school environment for all who set foot inside the school, whether they be students, teachers, staff members, parents or visitors. One of Patrick’s first steps was to attend ACE’s 2015 Latino Enrollment Institute, a program that seeks to transform Catholic schools with open seats, favorable demographic potential, and motivated individuals by teaching them how to attract and serve Latino students more effectively.  

Kari Buchinger had a specific plan. She was going to serve Catholic schools for two years through the LANCE Program, where she would earn her Masters degree while teaching the underprivileged youth of Memphis. Then she would return to New York and work in public schools. 

For Paty Salazar Harty, the dedicated service of her parents’ lives has informed and inspired her work in Catholic schools. Growing up, Paty saw what it truly meant to help others. She watched as her father, who grew up in extreme poverty in Mexico with fifteen brothers and sisters, and her mother, who came from a home in Mexico where survival was more important than literacy, sacrificed their time and talents to help others in need. Her father, a mechanic, isn’t technically in the social services profession, but that didn’t stop him from naming his business “Amigos,” in acknowledgment that friends are there to help others. Her mother, who graduated from college in Mexico, knew that Catholic education was the way for her children to succeed – not just in the professional world, but also in their spiritual development.