• Academic Programs
• Teacher Formation Program
  • How ACE Works
    • Teaching and the M.Ed.
    • Community Life
      • Meet the Pastoral and Administrative Staff
    • Spirituality
  • Who We Are Looking For
  • Benefits of ACE
  • Where You Will Serve
  • Faces of ACE
  • ACE South Bend
• Leadership Program
• English as a New Language Program

Serve a need. Change the World. Apply to ACE Now

• Prospective
  Applicants
• Current
  Members
• Alumni
  and Friends
• Principals, Mentors,
  and M.Ed. Faculty
• Parents and
  Families

Community Life

Why is community so important in ACE?

ACE espouses a vision of community centered on the active promotion of the common good in a variety of social contexts: home, school, nation, and Church. Community in ACE derives from the Catholic conviction that all communities strive to be examples of faith, hope, and love.

Year after year, the ACE community becomes a source of life and energy for the ACE teachers. It is our hope, and has been our experience, that the ACE teachers continue to use their community experience long after they graduate to build dynamic and life-giving communities of faith, hope, and love.

What does community life look like?

ACE teachers live in small communities of four to seven members and together share the many challenges and rewards of beginning teaching. Each ACE community becomes a naturally supportive environment. ACE participants are called to grow together, to support one another, and to challenge each other as they develop personally, professionally, and spiritually.

How does the program help ACE teachers create successful communities?

The program offers an ongoing evening session during the summer, as well as periodic retreats throughout the year to provide its teachers with skills for building successful communities. In addition to the support ACE teachers receive from one another, ACE’s pastoral staff members both support and challenge ACE teachers in their personal, communal, and spiritual lives during the summer session and through regular communication and site visits during the year.

What is housing like?

During the summer, you will live in a dorm on campus with the other ACE teachers.

During the year, you will live together in a community of 4-7 fellow ACE teachers in affordable housing located by the diocese in which you serve. Available housing varies widely from diocese to diocese – many ACE houses are former convents or rectories, others are rented from local parish members or benefactors, while others are apartments. You will be expected to contribute each month to pay for rent, utilities, internet, and food. Teaching stipends are determined based on the cost of living in each community to ensure that living costs are manageable.