ACE Advocates News

The powerful witness of ACE is not lost on Adam Barajas. As a high school student, he studied science under an ACE teacher. That experience not only set his course towards the ACE Teaching Fellows program but, he says, "it made me a better person."

Adam Barajas lives in Brownsville, Texas in an ACE community that refers to itself—true to Texas form—as "the biggest and best in ACE." The middle school math and science teacher describes why he joined ACE Teaching Fellows: "I was taught Chemistry and Physics by an ACE teacher in high school. His influence in my life reached far beyond the classroom and past my time in high school...When I was discerning God's plan for me after college, it seemed as though I was called to give back to the program that had done so much for me."

Indeed, Mr. Barajas is giving back. While he speaks of areas where he needs "a lot of improvement," he attests to how he is making a difference. "There is a poverty of depth, experience, and intellectual challenge at the school in which I teach. In seeing and addressing this issue, I feel I am making a difference. My students leave my class with more questions than they came in with. The ability to question and seek answers in a coherent manner is the best gift I can offer my students."

At the same time, Mr. Barajas attests to the gift ACE teaching has been to him. His spiritual and professional growth have made him a different person from when he started the program, such that he can say: "This past weekend I saw the sunset on the bay of South Padre Island [and] the reality that I am doing more than just service and that these kids are more than just my students finally sunk in. God is with the people of this foreign place and he is with me in my time here as well, sanctifying my service and making my broken talents whole."

Click here to learn more about the ACE Teaching Fellows program.

As any person involved in Notre Dame ACE Academies can tell you, the schools' goals are twofold: College and Heaven. Notre Dame ACE Academies board member Sylvia Rodriguez highlights this with everyone she meets: "I tell them that we are all in this for our children, to make it a better world for them by preparing them for College and Heaven."

Sylvia Rodriguez is a walking advertisement for the value of Catholic schools. Not only is she a parish representative on the Notre Dame ACE Academies board; not only is she a Catholic school parent; Mrs. Rodriguez also heads up Madrinas y Padrinos, "a group of wonderful people who help recruit families to our schools who may not realize that it is possible for our children to attend these schools," she explains.

Says Notre Dame ACE Academies associate director Andie Cisneros, "Sylvia has done awesome things since she took over the position, recruiting new madrinas and padrinos and coordinating their efforts. They speak at masses at local parishes, CCD classes and parent meetings, and even stand outside grocery stores handing out flyers and talking to parents about the schools. She's totally committed and a force to be reckoned with in the best possible way."

"I love the Madrinas program," Mrs. Rodriguez says, "because it opens up many doors of opportunity for children and their families. When I am out giving literature about ACE schools to potential families and see the look on their faces when they hear that their children can attend because we offer tuition assistance...I feel I make a difference, especially when families show up and register at one of our schools."

The highlight for her in this work, she says, is what it offers children in terms of faith formation and the pursuit of higher education, so they can "go out and achieve their hearts' desires and become great people in society." Great people in society--like Sylvia Rodriguez!

The power of prayer brought Priscilla Bussari to her involvement with Notre Dame ACE Academies.

With her husband, Rey, the mother of five has sent each of their children to Catholic schools. Currently their three youngest attend St. John the Evangelist, A Notre Dame ACE Academy. The school, she reports, is thriving now, but it hasn't always been so. "St. John's was on the brink of closure," Mrs. Bussari says. "It had gone through five different principals in five years and enrollment was rapidly declining. There was no unified direction for the school." So she and several others committed to praying for St. John's. "This is not just the school my children attend," she explains. "This is our community."

Their prayers were answered. "St. John's was one of the 3 schools chosen to become the first Notre Dame ACE Academies. This partnership would give our school the resources it had been lacking for so many years. This renewed sense of direction gave me hope, and I wanted to be part of it."

Today Mrs. Bussari serves on the Notre Dame ACE Academies school board and, she adds, "in any capacity needed. I will be the voice of our school's parents, working on behalf of our children to ensure that they have the opportunities to get an excellent education and to continue to grow in their faith."

And indeed, they are making gains. "The expectations both academically and in their faith are at a higher level; this partnership has opened up a new world for them. The school culture has made such a positive change in just the last year."

About her service to St. John's, this Catholic School Champion concludes, "I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, but I am confident that with this partnership, the future is a bright one."