In the Spotlight: Greg O'Donnell and the Transforming Power of Education
As an undergrad at the University of Notre Dame, Greg O'Donnell got his first taste of working with children through a community ed program that became "one of the most impactful experiences of my collegiate career." Among other things, the program exposed him to the power of education to transform children's lives. He signed up for ACE and set his mind toward becoming an educator.
After two years of teaching social studies, the newly minted master's recipient considered next steps and decided, he says, "that if this was to be my vocation, I would need to gain a more diverse experience teaching in different settings." Greg signed up for ChACE, moving to Santiago, Chile where he taught, improved his Spanish, and obtained a certificate in teaching English as New Language.
Greg speaks movingly about what he learned through ACE and ChACE. "First, trust that God will take care of you. Many times a new experience can be completely terrifying. For me, both teaching and living abroad were such experiences[...] It wasn't until I surrendered myself to God's will that I was actually able to find the strength to overcome my fears and learn how to cope with my new environments. Every time I reflect on this, I recall one of my favorite sayings, 'God doesn't call the qualified, but qualifies the called.'"
The second lesson Greg learned was, "Relax and don't rush everything. And above all, value personal relationships." He explains: "The culture in South America is such that most people approach situations from a completely different perspective [than North Americans]. While often my instinct was to finish a task as quickly as possible, they generally approached tasks slowly, taking the time to talk to individuals even if it meant that things didn't get done on time. This focus on individual relationships was one I came to appreciate, and I hope that I adopted aspects of it to blend in with my own cultural practices."
Today Greg O'Donnell is back in North America, where he recently became associate director of ACE's Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program. What landed him in the job was what landed in his heart as an undergraduate volunteer in community ed: the transforming power of education. "Something inside me," he says, "was yearning to find a way to make a greater impact on Catholic schools; [...]teaching around the world made me cognizant of the limited scope of my influence. Thus I set out to find a way to broaden my influence on the educational world, which naturally brought me back to looking at the work ACE is doing in the United States and abroad."
Click here to learn more about ACE Teaching Fellows. To read about ChACE, click here. To read about ACE English as a New Language, go here. To learn about the Remick Leadership Program, click here.