Educational Choice News

Photo credit: Cristo Rey New York High School

If you had asked Amanda Pertierra when she went off to college about ways to make our society a more just place, education would not have been at the top of her list.

If you hope to one day become a superintendent, Dr. Tim Uhl has some advice for you—get ready for a dynamic, multifaceted leadership role. Uhl, the superintendent of Catholic Schools for Montana and the founder of the “Catholic School Matters” podcast and newsletter, loves his job precisely because it demands expertise in several domains.

If it is true that “your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world's greatest need,” Marianela Nuñez has found that vocation in the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey. Nuñez, an exuberant woman who emigrated from the Dominican Republic, directs the diocesan Latino Enrollment Initiative where she connects Latino families with Catholic schools. In this role, Nuñez is able to utilize so many of her gifts and skills: her communication background, natural affability, and love for her community and culture. Because Nuñez does such excellent work building the Latino community among South Jersey Catholic schools, she was nominated to attend the Reform Leaders’ Summit to broaden her understanding of educational choice in the United States.

When Anna Egalite applied for the Reform Leaders’ Summit in 2010, she had lived in the United States for just two years, and she was hungry for answers regarding educational choice. Egalite came to America through the Irish Teaching Fellows and taught at Sacred Heart Interparochial School in Pinellas Park, Florida. During her first year of teaching, Egalite witnessed her low-income students bounce back and forth between the local public and private schools.

When Ricky Austin read the 2005 Notre Dame Task Force on Catholic Education report during his second year as an ACE Teaching Fellow, he was startled and inspired. Catholic schools were at an inflection point. They were closing at an alarming rate, and without intervention, they could disappear entirely from inner cities. Austin, now the director of programs and communications at the Aim Higher Foundation in Minnesota, felt a stirring in his heart as he read the conclusion of the report: “Will it be said of our generation that we abandoned [Catholic schools,] these powerful instruments of justice that provide educational opportunity and hope for families otherwise trapped in poverty?”