Faces of ACE

ACE Advocate Anna Jacob is passionate about parental choice. "Our society," says the native of Waterford, Ireland, has a "moral obligation to protect families' [rights] to select what they deem are the most appropriate schools for their children."

Anna's experience in the ACE Teaching Fellows program kindled the flame of this passion, and her participation last summer in the ACE Advocates Parental Choice Symposium fanned that flame into a blaze. The symposium, she says, "is an invaluable experience for teachers who...recognize a gap in their knowledge and understanding of the relevance of the school choice landscape for Catholic schools."

"Anyone who has taught in or led a Catholic school knows the struggles many families face financing the necessary tuition for their children," Anna says. "Catholic school leaders are also brutally aware of the startling rate at which enrollments have declined in recent years. The unsettling reality is that many [students] who switch out of Catholic schools do not choose to do so because of dissatisfaction with ... their child's Catholic school." On the contrary, most often it is simply because they cannot afford it. This injustice, she says, "stirs a profound objection in me."

Today Anna is working towards a doctorate in education policy at the University of Arkansas, where her experience as a teacher and advocate helps her strike a healthy balance between theory and practice. As she learns in greater detail about education reform, she says, "the ACE Advocates Symposium reminds me to pay attention to the common experiences, responses, and revealed preferences of practitioners, students, families and community members generally, and to reflect deeply on the issues in hand."

Anna Jacob has worked as a graduate assistant with the School Choice Demonstration Project since 2010 with Dr. Patrick Wolf and fellow ACE graduate Mike McShane. The group recently released the final set in a series of annual reports on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. Anna received her B.Ed. from St. Patrick's College Dublin, where she graduated with first-class honors, and her M.Ed. through the University of Notre Dame's ACE program. Her email address is .

Applications for the 2012 Parental Choice Symposium are currently being accepted.

ACE 19 Intern Sam Reich has known since childhood that she wanted to be a teacher. That's why the History and Chemistry double major pursued an internship with ACE as an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame. This week, she tells us what that experience has been like.

"I applied to ACE [through the ACE Internship] because of its incredibly supportive environment and innovative approach to alternative certification. I was immediately drawn to the community and spirituality aspects of ACE, along with its excellent academic preparation.

My instincts were not wrong. From the first day that I walked into the ACE office as an intern, the program has warmly accepted me. Staff members always have a moment to talk, whether I have a serious issue that I need to discuss or I just stopped in for the free coffee!

The ACE Internship has allowed me to see the ins and outs of all that is ACE. I have learned plenty about the ACE Teaching Fellows program, as one of the main intern jobs is recruiting at campus events. I have also learned a bit about other ACE initiatives, such as the Remick Leadership Program, where I assisted with data analysis in one of its research projects.

I've enjoyed getting to know ACE staff members; I can now sit in Remick Commons and pretty much guarantee that I will see at least one person to chat with so that I can procrastinate doing homework! What's more, I cannot stress enough how comforting it has been that I haven't had to worry about what I'm doing after graduation.

As my entrance into the ACE Teaching Fellows program is rapidly approaching, I am both nervous and excited. I know that my ACE experience will teach me how to become a better educator. However, I also hope that I will become a better person with a wider world perspective by the end of my second year. I want to learn more about ways to give back to the community in which I will be working, as well as to strengthen my faith life."

To learn more about the ACE Internship, click here.

Dan Faas (pictured above, back row left, with his ACE community and Dr. Tom Doyle) is a middle school Language Arts and Religion teacher in Mobile, Alabama. The dedicated and creative teacher recently answered our questions about ACE Teaching Fellows:

What motivated you to apply to ACE?
I wanted to serve young people through teaching and also discern whether the vocation of teaching was "for me." The three pillars of ACE were what won me over to the program. There are a lot of teaching/service programs out there, but very few offer the built-in community and spiritual growth opportunities that ACE provides.

How has this experience changed you so far?
ACE has gradually made me into a more selfless person. The vast majority of my time and effort is dedicated to my students—which can be frustrating, but is ultimately incredibly rewarding. ACE has shown me that there are much more important things in life than my own comfort and convenience, and that serving others is the source of greatest fulfillment.

Where/how do you feel yourself making a difference?
I don't have many "aha" moments where I feel myself making a huge difference. Rather, I know that I've made the biggest difference just by showing up, day in and day out, talking about life with my students. I think the biggest difference I can make in my students' lives is just being a constant reminder that there is someone who cares about them, holds them to high expectations and believes they can achieve them. Being present and "not going away" over time has taught my students more than any 45-minute lesson, and has made the biggest difference.

What has been your greatest highlight thus far?
Being accepted into a school community and culture vastly different than my own. I'm so thankful to have been welcomed by the African-American community at Most Pure Heart of Mary and to become a part of a school family with such rich tradition and history.

For instance, I once accepted a challenge from one of my students to a rap battle — an incredibly foolish choice on my part. However, it worked out: My willingness to do so showed my students that I was engaged in their interests, willing to have fun with them, and not afraid to back down from a challenge. It was the student who was the one who eventually "cracked" under the pressure in our lighthearted duel and after that day, my students were more willing to trust, cooperate, and have fun with me.

ACE has changed a lot since its first class of aspiring teachers attended an information meeting in 1993, according to a member of that ACE 1 cohort. Steve Camilleri remembers dropping off his ACE application to Father Tim Scully after the Easter Vigil Mass later that year, and he has watched the program’s impact grow over the nearly two decades that followed. “We used to say that ACE stands for ‘always changing everything,’” he says, “because ACE is changing the future of Catholic education, changing the lives of students and teachers everywhere, and changing principals, classrooms, communities, and everything it touches.”

Steve adds: “ACE changed me.” First, it opened his eyes to the life of a teacher—a vocation that drives him today as executive director of South Bend’s Center for the Homeless. The pillars of ACE, bringing together service, community, and spirituality, also inform Steve’s life as a parent and parishioner. He and his wife are delighted that their kindergartener and first grader are going to a Catholic school that “educates them in the faith.” His service on the parish stewardship committee includes a plan “to implement stewardship in every classroom at the school,” passing the message of the pillars along to a new generation.

ACE people like to say “we’re just getting started,” and Steve remembers ACE when that was literally true. He lightheartedly proposes that the slogan is another thing that could change over time. “In ten years from now, we’ll be saying, ‘it’s only getting better.’ In twenty years, `the best is yet to come.’” He wants to stress that lives are being changed every day because ACE cares, and that can change everything. “Who knows where the Spirit will take us now?”

Recently, we asked Marisa Foyle, ACE Teaching Fellows (STT) graduate and now a second grade teacher in the ACE English as a New Language (ENL) program, what difference these experiences have made in her life. Here is what she told us:

My ACE experiences over the past few years have truly blessed my life. I look forward to the challenges and the exciting discoveries I share with my students and colleagues each day in the classroom. I appreciate that I continue to learn more about myself and the world around me than I could have ever imagined. And I cherish the relationships I have built. Some of my ACE classmates have become my closest friends, and I readily turn to these people with my prayer requests, challenges, and success stories.

So far in my teaching career, I have worked primarily with students who are English Language Learners. This has sparked in me a deep desire to teach them well: to implement "best practices," to read the latest legislation, and to learn teaching strategies that serve my students better. This desire was the driving force behind my application to the ACE ENL program.

Through the program I am learning strategies and implementing assessments that I've found are beneficial not only to my ENL students, but to all of my students. In a sense, all of my students are English Language Learners because they are still learning the rules that govern our complicated language.

Through the program I am also collaborating with and learning from many other dedicated teachers throughout the country. As a result, this semester I will be forming a professional development plan to bring this information to more of the teachers at my school.

I am truly grateful to be a teacher, and I owe much of my thanks to ACE, which has given me the tools I need to refine my teaching practices and to continue to learn from and with my students each day. My students never cease to amaze me, with their eagerness to learn and explore. When I see their faces light up with smiles at their "aha!" moments, when I witness them praying, sharing, and laughing with each other, my heart fills with joy.