Alliance for Catholic Education
"Please take a seat and stare at the Virgin Mary for five minutes. I would like to remind you that if you so much as look away from the statue sitting in front of you, I will add five minutes to your detention. If you laugh, talk to your peer, or ask me a question I will add five minutes to your detention. It is now 3:15. You may begin." I sat quietly staring at the statue of the Immaculate Conception as my teacher took a seat next to it. Soccer practice would start at 3:45, so I knew I could not stay long. My best friend was sitting next to me sharing in penance for having collaborated in class disruption.
Two minutes pass. Three minutes. Four. My teacher got a sly grin on his face sensing that we were now able to endure five minutes without a flinch. "Two muffins are sitting in an oven. One says to the other, 'boy, it's hot in here!' The other says, 'AAAAH, a talking muffin.'" That was it. We lost it. Once our laughter subsided and we gathered ourselves, my teacher coldy said, "Five more minutes." As the year progressed, I found myself attending detention with less frequency.
The teacher who assigned my detention was Bishop Machebeuf High School's first ACE teacher. He was fresh out of college and had been placed at my school with the mission of teaching high school social studies. An ACE teacher agrees to teach, live in community, and develop personal spirituality over the course of two years through the ACE Teaching Fellows program. My fifteen year-old self could hardly comprehend the reasons one would choose to take this path voluntarily. It was an odd choice in our eyes. This teacher was replaced with two other ACE teachers after serving his two years with us. Although neither of the two newer teachers taught me in the classroom, one taught me on the soccer pitch. For a young student with big ambitions to attend my dream school, The University of Notre Dame, having ACE teachers helped make concrete the perception of a Notre Dame student and graduate. They served as models for reaching higher education and pushed us to learn and grow. They told tales of college, of study-abroad experiences, of football games, and of their own dreams. They were not afraid to reprimand us and were eager to greet us with a smile and earnest "good job" after having aced a test or making a game-winning save. Many days the simple fact that they were young made a world of difference. That, in itself, made school and practice more enjoyable.
ACE teachers did not look like us, they did not talk like us, and they did not think like us. However, for this young Hispanic with very few role models that had reached such high levels of education and world experience, they provided me with an image of success and service to others. I applied for ACE with the hopes of educating young students sharing similar backgrounds and to be a concrete role model of ambition and success.