Alliance for Catholic Education
“I was an engineering undergrad. Teaching was not on my radar,” Joseph Augustinsky says lightheartedly, “Someone from ACE came and spoke to my engineering class about the need for teachers in science–It’s a good thing they do that,” Joe smiles, “They got at least one teacher that way!”
Upbeat, sincere, and easy-going, Joe is a member of the science faculty at Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago. Prior to his appointment at Saint Ignatius, Joe committed the last eight years to serving the Notre Dame College Prep community in Niles, Illinois, including as chair of the science department." His leadership in Catholic education received recognition this summer when the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) honored him with the Michael Pressley Award for Excellence in Catholic Education, an award given to two unique alumni each year.
Two awards are given annually to ACE graduates who have distinguished themselves in making significant contributions to the ministry of Catholic education. Elizabeth Watters Schwartze, principal of St. Elizabeth Seton in Palo Alto, California, and a member of ACE 20 and Remick 18 also won the 2024 award.
Joe arrived at a career in Catholic education through a circuitous route. He began as an engineering intern, fresh out of college, and dissatisfied with his experience. He did not consider teaching until he found that his engineering internship “just didn’t connect with [him].” Joe says, “I needed to be around people.” Stuck in the back of his mind, was the ACE representative who presented to his engineering class back in college. When his internship didn’t click, he “thought [he] would give teaching a try.”
Joe (ACE 19, Tampa) prepared for his first two years of teaching with a class-heavy summer on Notre Dame’s campus, and then left for Florida. “The first year of teaching is hard,” Joe stresses. But Joe’s cohort was filled with “great people.” Living and teaching with peers that understood the challenges of first-year teaching was immensely valuable. Joe’s cohort community would support each other during the week, unwind together on the weekends, and they continue to keep in touch to this day.
At the end of the first year, Joe took a step back from the Teaching Fellows program. After less than a year, Joe approached ACE leadership about returning. “I had a conversation with John Staud,” Joe remembers, “Where I asked for an opportunity to come back and finish. John said ‘absolutely.’”
With the support of a new cohort, ACE 19, Joe jumped right back in and completed the second year of intense training and field practice. “Both groups of people were great,” Joe praises his two cohorts, “I forged lifelong friendships.”
Joe recalls taking ACE classes with Fr. Lou DelFra during the summer, where he and his colleagues would raise debates over the readings. They would pose arguments and Fr. Lou would simply answer “‘That’s a good point.’ or, ‘Great question.’” That experience of having someone in a teaching role not try to argue or explain, but simply listen, deeply impacted Joe. He took this lesson with him into his teaching career. Sometimes the most valuable thing one can do is to “stop,” Joe states with a long pause,
“Stop.
“And just listen.”
Joe's teaching career took him to Notre Dame College Prep in a suburb of Chicago where he served as a teacher and leader as chair of their science department.
One day, a school administrator came to observe Joe’s class. When his class finished, the administrator debriefed with him. “He asked me what I thought about what my students thought,” Joe recounts, “And I said, ‘I don’t know, they didn’t ask any questions.’
“And he said, ‘well, did you give them time to ask questions?’”
“Teachers need to listen to their students,” Joe concludes. Soon enough, his turn came to put into practice what he was learning. When a student gave a particularly good answer in class, Joe responded with a verbal affirmation.
The student responded, “What do I get? Do I get anything for that?”
Joe joked, “What do you want, a gold star?”
His student looked him in the eye and responded, “Mr. Augustinsky, I am a senior in high school, and I would like nothing better than a gold star.”
Joe listened. And then he took action. That evening he went home and ordered gold stars on Amazon. At the next class period, Joe made that student’s senior year when he presented him with a gold star.
Joe credits his ability to finish his Teaching Fellows program to John Staud listening to him when he needed it. Not only did Joe himself learn to listen to his students, but he also learned to listen to his calling and commit to his work in education. Joe’s perseverance and impact are honored with ACE’s Michael Pressley award. “It’s reassuring,” Joe humbly remarks, “after 12 years in the classroom, to know I must be doing something right.”
“More than anything, ACE taught me that learning is listening.” Joe reflects, “ACE is full of people who listen.”