Dallas ACE Advocates: Spreading the Good News About Catholic Schools

When describing her first year as an ACE teacher, Elizabeth Nava says, “I saw myself as a person with hope to bring.”

Elizabeth, who graduated in the 15th cohort of ACE Teaching Fellows and taught in Atlanta, has remained committed to spreading this hope to Catholic schoolchildren. After her service with ACE, Elizabeth taught at St. Monica Catholic School in Dallas, Texas. While she has since left the classroom, Elizabeth continues to support Catholic education and now leads the Dallas ACE Advocates regional community. This group, comprised of over 100 ACE graduates and friends of ACE in Dallas, strives to “find ways to be the salt and the light and the yeast in the world.”

Boston is one of the few major metropolitan hubs throughout the United States without a formal community of ACE Teaching Fellows. With nearly 75 ACE graduates living in the Boston area, though, it has become difficult not to conceive of Boston as an “ACE Community.” As one of the longest-standing ACE Advocates regions, Boston has become a proof point for the belief that ACE, more than a program, is an apostolic movement of lay people capable of supporting, sustaining, and transforming Catholic schools in an ongoing, local capacity.

ACE Advocates kicked off an initiative on Sept. 13 to channel the energy of enthusiastic supporters in Chicago to directly help students in Catholic schools as members of the new ACE Advocates Chicago Young Professionals Board.

Humility and hard work characterize Carl Loesch’s career in Catholic education. Though Loesch, the Secretary for Catholic Education in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, recently earned The Michael Pressley Award for Excellence in Catholic Education, he is quick to use his spotlight to thank those who helped him ascend to his position.

Matt Vereecke, the Superintendent of Catholic Schools in Dallas, knew that when he moved from schoolteacher to superintendent, he would be giving up the daily personal interactions with his students.