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What do ACE Teaching Fellows, film-making, entrepreneurship, and Catholic schools have in common? Brick Maier. Over the last several years, the ACE 8 graduate has put his ACE teaching experience to work, honing his skills as a filmmaker and entrepreneur to create educational resources for community and classroom.

Of his years as an ACE teacher, Brick writes, "The actual experience of learning how to teach was very humbling." But the result was confidence. ACE taught Brick to take on new challenges boldly, knowing that "if I could survive the first couple years of teaching, I could do pretty much anything."

Most recently, that has meant developing tools that foster creative play and media literacy. Specifically, he has created a Tabletop Moviemaking Studio Kit, which enhances the power of story-telling. Catholic schools, he tells us, are particularly amenable to such a resource. "I have found that [they] are uniquely positioned to move quickly on implementing innovative ideas because the organizational leadership is nimble." Currently, Brick is raising funds for the production of these kits via a Kickstarter campaign.

The former Fulbright scholar with a heart for today's youth sees that Catholic schools are a powerful force for positive change, "especially in our inner city schools. From my teaching experience in Los Angeles to filming in Catholic schools in Haiti, I have learned that Catholic education, simply put, opens doors."

Support Brick Maier's work here. See his video about Haiti here. To order a Tabletop Moviemaking Studio Kit, click here.

The latest news from Today's Catholic and www.todayscatholicnews.org in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend includes three articles mentioning the Alliance for Catholic Education There's coverage of Bishop Kevin Rhoades presiding at Mass for ACE's class of 2012 graduates as part of Commencement celebrations. In another piece, Dr. Mark Myers, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Dicoese, comments on the Commencement ceremony itself. A separate article in the July 29 issue of the diocesan newspaper notes that the new principal of St. Adalbert School in South Bend, Andrew Currier, is an ACE graduate.

The Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) at Notre Dame capped its annual "ACE Summer" of formation programs and conferences with a "missioning" Mass on July 27, sending forth more than 200 teachers and leaders to Catholic schools across the United States.

The Most Rev. Joseph P. McFadden, bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg and a prominent voice on education within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, presided at the Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart to honor the "vocation" and "calling" of service in Catholic elementary and secondary schools.

"Your participation in the ACE program is a great blessing for the Church," he said in his homily. "As the chairman of the Bishops' Committee on Catholic Education, I thank you for your willingness to enter into this most important and essential work of the Church."

This keynote address was presented to ACE's School Pastors Institute on July 17 by the Most Rev. Joseph P. McFadden, Bishop of Harrisburg and chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Catholic Education.

My brothers in the Lord, I am deeply honored to have been invited to again give the keynote address for the School Pastors Institute sponsored by the University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE). The contribution that the ACE program has made to the work of Catholic Education in this country in the years since its inception is a real blessing for the Church. As the Chairman of the Catholic Education Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I want to publicly thank Notre Dame and all those responsible for this initiative. In its document "Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium" the Bishops of the United States called upon our Catholic Colleges and Universities to assist our Catholic elementary and secondary schools in addressing the critical staffing needs of our schools. Notre Dame has not only accepted the challenge but has worked diligently to be a catalyst to help address the various issues that are crucial to the success of maintaining Catholic Schools in the future.

As we gather for this conference I want you to know that the Bishops of the United States are deeply committed to Catholic schools and clearly understand our need to be more aggressive in supporting this important mission in the Church especially in our increasingly secular and materialistic society where the public education system has basically removed any mention of God or prayer from its schools and its classrooms. I had a letter just yesterday from Cardinal Dolan who is the President of the Bishops Conference indicating his desire that the Conference focus more attention on the situation of our Catholic schools and asking that our Committee increase its efforts in articulating more clearly the importance of this work of education in the mission of the Church and make it just as much a priority as the the Bishops stance on pro-life and immigration. He also asked that the Conference become more aggressive in advocating for both federal and local tax credits in support of our educational institutions.

Their backgrounds vary, and so do the reasons they took part in the ACE Teaching Fellows program. But these ACE Interns (above, L to R, Justin Novotney, Andrea Krebs, Kyle Pounder, Casey Flynn, and Jim Murphy) are united by their faith, their commitment to Catholic education, and their views about what ACE is doing for Catholic schools.

With a father who is a deacon and a mother who was in charge of RCIA at their parish, Andrea Krebs has been a practicing Catholic since her earliest years, Still, her first experience with K-12 Catholic education was in the year after college, when she served as a missionary in Mexico, and her second was as a teacher in ACE. Of that experience, she says she especially appreciates the freedom to talk about God in the classroom and is purposeful about teaching her students to enjoy that freedom, too. "I spend a fair amount of time helping kids develop ways to talk to God." She counts her ACE experience significant in preparing her for that. When asked about how ACE makes a difference in her school, Andrea says, "ACE provides an energy and motivation for all the school's teachers and students to keep improving, to keep learning more."

Kyle Pounder agrees. "ACE is bringing young, enthusiastic, and," he adds with a grin, "naively ambitious people into Catholic schools." Unlike Andrea, the faith was not a big part of Kyle's life until he attended a Catholic high school with a largely non-Catholic student body. There he became a Christian when friends took him to a Methodist church. He also met a teacher who graduated ACE. By the time this service-oriented youth graduated college, he says, "I felt like I had received so much from people, things I didn't deserve, and I wanted to give back." He talked with his former teacher, who steered him toward ACE. Today this Protestant is passionate about Catholic schools, saying, "In addition to providing good academics, [they] provide a place of belonging for students. They are concerned about the overall well-being of each student."

Casey Flynn and her family exemplify that fact. Her dad helped start a Cristo Rey school in the Washington, DC area and now sits on the board, while her mom serves as volunteer coordinator there. And when Casey graduated from MIT, she says, "I was looking for a faith-filled service program and wanted to do it in education because that has been such a big part of my family's life." ACE filled the bill. About the program, Casey says, "[It} provides great, well-educated, young, spiritual role models for kids across the country. Each school is different, and each needs different things, but the unifying factor for all 180 ACE teachers is that they are role models."

She took the words right out of Jim Murphy's mouth. "ACE teachers are young," says the son of two Catholic school educators, "Kids see that they're comfortable with their faith." This, in addition to their emphasis on academics, makes them uniquely valuable in the lives of students. "ACE gives students both academic and spiritual role models, reinforcing learning and intellectual development as well as strong and public faith lives." Jim emphasizes that value in Catholic education writ large, too. "[It] gives students a chance to connect faith life with academic life, so instead of faith becoming a part of what they do, it becomes a part of who they are."

Justin Novotney put it this way, "Catholic education forms the whole person." Justin particularly appreciates the historical rootedness of the institution. "I believe in Catholic education," he says, "because I trust those who came before me." A product of Catholic schools, Justin graduated college with the desire to become more involved in the community and the Church. "ACE fell into my lap in the most wonderful of ways," he says, recounting his casual decision to apply after hearing an announcement about it at Mass one night. His simple thought was, "if I get in then I will do it." Now that he's finished with ACE, he speaks about the difference it is making "because it is bringing talented, enthusiastic individuals into Catholic education who otherwise might not be there. Over time, that influence adds up to supplement what the Catholic school system in America has going."

Justin, a former middle school science and math teacher, will be a student at Moreau Seminary this fall. Jim will teach world history, government & economics for a third year at a Catholic high school in Los Angeles. Casey, a math teacher, will join the faculty of a Catholic high school in Chicago. Kyle, also a high school math teacher, will begin doctoral work in math at the University of Arizona. And Andrea will return to her high school in Los Angeles, teaching Science and math.