by Carol Sowa
Today's Catholic

     This has been the first year for the program in San Antonio and the six ACE teachers are nearing completion of their first teaching year. Eric Bobadilla and Laura Aull have been teaching at Holy Cross High School, he in middle school and high school social studies and English and she in 11th and 12th grade English classes. Stephen Holte and Jennie Granato have been employed at St. Paul School, teaching fourth and second grade respectively. Assigned to Holy Rosary School were Michael Gracie, teaching fourth grade, and Christin Carotta teaching second grade.
    Emphasizing the community aspect of the program, ACE teachers live together in a community house where chores and resources are shared and they can serve as a support network to each other as they are placed in one of the 100 ACE programs spread out over 13 states, primarily in the South and Southwest. The San Antonio ACE group lives in a rambling house across from St. Mary’s University and they hail from across the U.S. Eric is from Los Angeles, Laura from Atlanta, Stephen from St. Paul, Minn., Jennie from the Boston area, Michael from Tucson, Ariz., and Christin from Louisville, Ky.

    They did not know each other before being assigned as teammates, though Laura, Michael and Stephen knew of each other, as all had attended Notre Dame. Jennie is a graduate of Tufts University; Eric, the University of California at Santa Clara; and Christin, Loyola — New Orleans. They met for the first time in the summer classes that preceded their move here.
    With common ideals and goals, the six strangers soon bonded. They rotate cooking and dishwashing duties and try to share community meals at least twice a week. Each has an assigned household chore — vacuuming, dusting, grass cutting, refrigerator cleaning kitchen floor and counter cleanup, and garbage detail. Their household set-up has been a learning experience in itself and jokes are cracked about the tribulations of trimming the lawn with a weed-whacker and someone making use of a “Cooking for Dummies” cookbook. There is an interesting fuzzy yellow chicken, who musically blares “The Chicken Dance” and makes several brief appearances during the evening, but he is whisked away before he can be interviewed.

    The evening of my visit, Christin is the chef, assisted by Jennie, and they turn out a superb meal, the main course being referred to as “ACE Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes,” served with a bow-tie pasta salad, tossed salad and bread.
    Referring to their household, Michael says, “I think the community aspect of ACE is one of the most important parts. No matter what sort of day you have or how you’re feeling, there’s always something positive you can get out of coming back to the community.” Christin adds, “That’s one of the differences between the ACE program and all the rest of the programs that are similar. You are given this huge challenge, but you’re also sent to be with particular people who are doing the same challenge. It’s really a support system.”
    
     The reasons for the six joining the ACE program have a common thread, with slight variations. For Eric it was coming from a family background of social consciousness and an interest in social justice. “Last year I did a similar program which dealt with death row inmates and capital punishment,” he notes. Faced with the decision to go into law or education, and with a life goal of working with at-risk students, he opted for education and the ACE program this year.
    What drew Laura to the program was a deep-felt need to give back. “My senior year I really began to realize how blessed I was in my family and my education,” she said, “and instead of deciding to go immediately into my doctorate, I started to look into service programs.” Attending Notre Dame, she had met people she greatly respected who had participated in the ACE program, so decided to apply for it herself. Stephen echoed this sentiment, noting it was “just the way I was raised — that you have to use your gifts to help those who aren’t as fortunate.”
    Jennie stated, “I’ve always loved children and my major in college was child development, so I knew that I wanted to do some kind of work with children, but I wasn’t sure if teaching was for me. I heard about the ACE program and figured that it would be a really good way for me to try out teaching while getting support from the people in ACE, Notre Dame and the community that I’d live in.” Both Michael’s and Christin’s impetus was the feeling that it might be their last opportunity to be involved in a program of service to others before settling into a regular job.

    The past year has had its challenges, but all six speak of it in positive terms. Stephen refers to the struggle of “balancing teaching life with social life with spiritual life.” Christin recalls, “It took a little time to establish myself in the classroom, but after the first month or so it became more natural and the discipline came easier and everything was sort of in place.” Michael related, “I found out only after I arrived that my class had the reputation of being the most rambunctious that the school’s had in the past couple of years.”
    All survived and were thrilled with the progress their students had made by year’s end. In fact, Eric ended the year presenting achievement awards to two students he had initially pegged as troublemakers.
    Inevitably, there were frustrations. Laura found discouraging “the bright students whom you know either have environmental or motivational factors that thwart them from being the best they can be. I would love for them all to realize their potential.” Added Stephen, “Some students go home and you know that once they leave you, they don’t go into the same situation that the rest of the students go into. They don’t get the help with their homework at home, they don’t even get reminded to do their homework, or you can see that they come to school the next day having gotten an hour of sleep.”
    All take pride in the progress their students have made since the beginning of the school year and look forward to returning for their second ACE year in the fall. Jennie notes of her second grade class, “they were barely able to read fluently and write in complete sentences, and now they’re writing their own stories and reading chapter books.”
    What she says next of her students sums it up for all the ACE teachers: “They did a lot, but I had a hand in it, and so that is just a huge sense of accomplishment. I’m really impressed with how well they’re doing and where they are at the end of the year. And I’m going to miss them — I’m going to miss them a lot next year.”