One for All and All for One in Philadelphia’s Independence Mission Schools

Photo courtesy St. Francis Cabrini Regional Catholic School

A network of 15 Catholic schools serving Philadelphia’s poorest neighborhoods, collectively called the Independence Mission Schools (IMS), is striving to balance independence and centralized initiatives in its new steps toward academic excellence, building upon financial equilibrium it’s already established.

Where are you reading this article? Your phone? Your iPad? Or on your laptop? Wherever you are, you are likely reading this because of the too-often-taken-for-granted gift of a wireless internet connection. And soon, thanks to funds raised by the 15th annual ACE Marathon, the students at the Academy of St. Matthias the Apostle will also be able to use this technology in their classrooms.

“I stumbled across a little thing called ACE, and it completely changed my life."

Michael Debri, a graduate of ACE Teaching Fellows and the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program (RLP), originally intended to teach in a public high school after graduating from college. Before ACE, Debri explained, he had “no idea how important community is, for schools and for the Church.” After two years in a third grade classroom as an ACE Teacher in Memphis, Tennessee, Debri took a job as the assistant principal of All Saints Academy in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan.