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ACE educators teaching in inner-city Catholic schools
By Denver Catholic Register
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When students and teachers headed back to school this fall from scores of neighborhoods around the archdiocese, one group of teachers from the University of Notre Dame perhaps deserved an A-plus for having “traveled the farthest” to get to their classrooms.
Six young teachers at five schools—Annunciation, Assumption, Guardian Angels, St. Rose of Lima, and Bishop Machebeuf High School—traveled here from South Bend, Ind., where they participate in the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) teacher formation program. They live in community in a house in Denver, pursuing a graduate degree in education and experiencing school life far from their university’s Golden Dome and football stadium.
ACE has flourished in large part because of the strong alliance it represents among various stakeholders including the University of Notre Dame, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and particular dioceses and schools across the United States. ACE teachers—about 180 of them out in the field during any given year—have built a reputation for talent, energy and an eagerness to serve children.
Their passion for Catholic school teaching and their standout performance among ACE’s competitive, nationwide pool of applicants earn them a place in the distinctive program.
“ACE has become a leading provider of teachers to Catholic schools in the United States, and we’re blessed with highly talented young people who want to go wherever the needs are in order to sustain and strengthen Catholic education,” said Father Timothy Scully, C.S.C., who co-founded ACE in 1993.
The Archdiocese of Denver is one of 26 dioceses around the country that welcome ACE teachers to work in elementary and secondary schools—often schools with limited resources in hard-pressed areas. Despite facing frequent financial challenges, Catholic schools nationwide have a well-documented track record of educating students for the common good, providing educational opportunity vital to our civic society and preparing leaders for the Church and the community.
Father Scully, a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, which administers Notre Dame, attributes the success of Catholic schools largely to leaders and teachers who care for their students individually and as part of a faith-filled community.
“The three inseparable pillars in ACE’s formation of teachers are professional service, community life and spiritual growth,” Father Scully said.
The two-year teacher formation initiative for recent college graduates incorporates personal development and vocational discernment alongside a rigorous curriculum leading to a master of education degree. The curriculum includes summer studies on the Notre Dame campus and two years of teaching.
Among the six ACE teachers in Denver, Emily Navarro teaches at Annunciation, Mary Katherine Lyons teaches at Guardian Angels, Meaghan Crowley teaches at St. Rose of Lima, Michael Modak teaches at Assumption, and Joseph Guerin and Gunnar Rawlings teach at Bishop Machebeuf High School.
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