Faces of ACE

This Johns Hopkins graduate just finished his first semester in the ACE Teaching Fellows (STT) program, and so far, so good. "The first few months have been really rewarding," he says.

Teaching fifth graders in Rio Grande City, Texas is a far cry from studying political science in Baltimore, Maryland, where Sam earned his bachelor's degree last May.  Just the same, the STT experience has been positive for him, largely because of the people he's met. 

Sam speaks highly of his students. "They are great," he says, "and I really enjoy learning from them as much as I (try to) teach them. They have been so welcoming of me into the Mexican culture; it has really helped me to understand them and genuinely made me happy."

At the same time, the native Texan and his fifth graders enjoy a mutual love for the Lone Star State. "We have really come to form this bond," he says, "through sharing where we come from and where we want to go." In fact, some of his best moments so far have taken place outside the classroom, just swapping stories with his students.

Sam speaks highly of his peers in the STT program, too. "Getting to know so many amazing people is my favorite part of ACE. It really is an honor to be in such great company."

To learn more about the ACE Teaching Fellows program, click here.

Jack Wallace, a high school teacher at Holy Cross of San Antonio with the University of Notre Dame's ACE Teaching Fellows (ACE) program, has experienced, energized, and taught the power of a caring community by his reaction to the recent shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.

As a result of conversations with fellow teachers in Texas and a much broader outreach to other Catholic school teachers through Facebook, the people of Newtown will soon receive hundreds of letters of compassionate support from children in Catholic school classrooms around the country.

Jack, a member of the ACE 19 cohort, hails from Fairfield, Conn., a short distance from the site where 27 children and adults were gunned down on Dec. 14. The shock hit Jack close to home for several reasons, partly because he has friends from Newtown who attended Catholic high school with him.

After learning of the tragic deaths, he approached his fellow teachers living together in the San Antonio community with the idea of having his students write letters to Newtown expressing their grief and sympathy. The other teachers affirmed the lesson in sharing one's love and building the Body of Christ. They not only supported the idea, but said they would do the same in their own classrooms. One colleague suggested using social media to spread the idea nationwide.

 "I told them, if you want to make it more real for your kids, you can tell them these letters are literally going to be handed to somebody your teacher knows, and he'll hand-deliver them to Newtown," Jack explained later. He has learned online that teachers from Washington, D.C., to Oakland, Calif., invited their students to put their thoughts on paper and sent those messages to the home of Jack's family, where he planned to arrive on Saturday, Dec. 22, for Christmas break.

"The support has been unbelievable," he says.

His plan, as of the one-week anniversary of the tragedy, was to wait until a couple of days after Christmas and then take the letters—along with some financial contributions made in San Antonio—to Saint Rose of Lima Parish in Newtown.

"It would be absolutely incredible to walk up to Monsignor [Robert] Weiss, the pastor, and say, here are a thousand letters from Catholic schools all over that really support you and the town," comments Jack. "Anything that can uplift a town like that is really worth doing."

"I have so much to learn both inside and outside the classroom," said this ACE Teaching Fellows (STT) applicant. "A program that enables me to...be a student and do service through my job as a teacher is the best decision I can make [toward that end]."

So said Blair Carlin, now a second year teacher in the STT program. At its annual retreat this month, she shared her thoughts about the experience, especially as it's led her to discover what she truly treasures.

As a senior at Notre Dame, she begins, "I applied to the ACE Program and I applied for a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship in Spain...During the first week of the ACE summer, I questioned why I declined my Fulbright acceptance and why I even applied to ACE...

"Despite the fact that I was part of a program based on community where everyone is so chipper, positive, and welcoming, I had never felt more different, alone, and out of place. Moreover, I felt as though my students did not get what I was teaching and their parents did not get that I was actually trying to help their children and not destroy them.

"However, through this darkness, when I felt like I was being a greater disservice than service to my students, their parents, my community, and ACE, I came to understand my greatest treasure: people. It was as though my relationships had to be compromised for me to see that they were my greatest sources of light."

Through her classroom experience, Blair has also come to understand teaching as a powerful way to serve that treasure. "Teaching is one of the most real and special forms of philanthropy. Teachers get to help individuals become excited about learning and help them form themselves and their beliefs. Teachers get to help their students find their treasures, which is a great treasure in and of itself."

"From being an adult leader on Arbishop Carroll's first Kairos retreat to helping with the incredible food drive we put on, I have seen firsthand how these experiences help form our students. Students learn how to reach outside of themselves and gain an understanding of how their actions have the power to enhance the lives of others."

The math teacher got down to business at Archbishop Carroll High School, focusing not on her own sense of comfort but on her students' ability to succeed and to serve. Alyssa Bellinder, former track star from Kansas State University, chose displacement from her undergraduate experience to teach and to support young minds in her classroom in Washington, D.C.

"I believe in my students," Alyssa continues. "I tell them, 'I believe you can succeed. But the choice is up to you.' My goal is to provide them with an experience in which they can watch hard work and determination pay off with success. Students need to see the critical role that their effort plays in their accomplishments now and in the future."

Since graduating from ACE in 2013, Alyssa has continued teaching in Catholic schools, and is now teaching Geometry and Honors Geometry at Bishop Machebeuf High School in Denver, CO. She continues her commitment to service in her classroom.

"I've always wanted to be a teacher," she explains. "I have discovered that my life is not about me. It is about God and how I can serve him through my work as a teacher."

To read about Alyssa's community in Washington, DC, click here. To learn more about ACE Teaching Fellows, click here.

Dan Faas' classmates chose him to speak during Commencement weekend last summer and, with his characteristic wit and wisdom, the former Spartan captured the fear, awe, and Christ-revealing hope of the ACE experience. Below are excerpts of his speech. To read the full transcript, click here.

On behalf of the graduating class of ACE 17, I want to thank all of you for being here tonight. Thank you to the ACE M.Ed faculty, pastoral staff, and all who make ACE what it is...And on a personal note, I want to thank my fellow ACErs — my fellow masters, my allies in Catholic education, my dear friends, my brothers and sisters for giving me — a lowly Spartan — the opportunity to speak for a few minutes tonight on their behalf and to represent Our Lady's University in this capacity. I say with all sincerity that this is the honor of my life.

I'm a little bit intimidated to be up here right now...Many of you are perhaps expecting me to briefly and succinctly encapsulate the ACE experience. Grandma Rita in the back perhaps might be wondering what it's like to be an ACE teacher, or perhaps Cousin Herschell wants to know about the academic rigors of the M.Ed, and Aunt Esther might just want some more clarification on why her sweet niece or nephew was sent to Plaquemine, Louisiana in the first place, or even where or what a Plaquemine is...

I've come to the conclusion that —alas! — it can't be done. For those who have completed ACE, no explanation is necessary and for those who have not, no amount of explanation will suffice. The story of ACE as a whole is too big for one man to explain. It is, alas, not my story to tell.

But this burden nevertheless left me afraid. Afraid, much like the apostles were [in the boat the night they saw Jesus walking on the water]. Scripture says a strong wind was blowing, and the apostles of Christ were frightened. And when Christ appears, walking on water, what does he say but, "Do not be afraid"?

"Do not be afraid" — says the unsinkable man.

At first, this reading did nothing to allay my fears. If I'm afraid to sink, why should I listen to Jesus, as he is buoying on top of the sea?

But when the apostles stop being afraid, when they recognize what is happening — their Lord defying the laws of nature and physics — they let him into the boat...and they are amazed. They forget their fear, and they just live in awe of what they just saw...

I was teaching the sacraments in religion this past year and we were talking about the Eucharist — that is, the sacrament that Catholics recognize as the real presence — body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus. I explained this to my students, and saw their faces kind of contort — first in confusion, then in understanding, then in shock. Many of my students, non-Catholic, didn't understand how people could really think this. And then Shauntai, in the back, asked a question I'll never forget:

"So, Midda Faw, if you think that Jesus is REALLY the bread, then why you not be amazed, like, ALL THE TIME?!"

And I didn't have an answer for her. Still don't.

And I think, maybe, that's why I was so afraid of this talk. Not just because I have to get up in front of 500 people. I taught middle school, I can handle 500 people. But because you all amaze me so much, and I don't want to disappoint...

It's easy to be afraid, especially in times like this. We are moving to new places, and schools. We have new vocations, new spouses, new fiancees, new roommates, new careers.

But when I think back to all of you all, and how I have seen Christ in you and in all of the work and the pain and the struggle and the joy and the good, the real and lasting good that we've done — together: I am not afraid.

I am amazed.

And, like Shauntai's question, I really don't know why I wasn't amazed the whole time. I should have been. And now, looking at all of you, finishing this difficult and beautiful experience, I know I will continue to be amazed for a very long time.

Dan is currently teaching in the ACE Chile (ChACE) program.  To read the full transcript of his commencement speech, click here.