Week 1 - #CathEdSocial - Why I Chose Catholic Education

This is my 18th year working in a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. And this is my 1st year officially teaching PSR, Parish School of Religion (St. Louis’ version of CCD). And here is why. Catholic schools changed my life when I was a teenager. I encountered Christ in a personal and significant way in my school. And I am forever dedicated to Catholic education because of this. 

When I was a sophomore in high school in 1994, I attended St. Mary’s Academy, an all-girls Benedictine boarding school in Nauvoo, Illinois. My mother and I decided that it was the  “best thing” for me, as I was “moody” and “difficult to live with.” Basically, a teenager. So I was sent to a Catholic boarding school with ALL GIRLS (a horrible thought for me as a 15-year-old) in the middle of NOWHERE (no shopping mall or big stores within an hour). This was before the internet and before cell phones. So being sent to a Catholic boarding school was basically the end of the world and my social life. I was devastated. 

When I was 15, I had no prayer life. I went to Mass when it was convenient or mandatory.  I knew Jesus, but only as a character in a book. I didn’t know Jesus personally. Until one of my teachers changed my life. 

My teacher invited a group of us to pray the Rosary with her once a week in the evening. This teacher was also my volleyball coach. She lived a joyful life. I wanted to be around her joy. I wanted her joy because I had none. There is nothing more attractive than someone living out holiness in their lives and truly knowing Jesus. So I went. We prayed. Week after week. We prayed our petitions out loud, and we immersed ourselves in Scripture. I met Jesus for the first time in my life. I started to talk to Jesus on my own. He was real for the first time. 

And then that same teacher took us to a youth conference. That was really when my life was changed. I heard and felt for the first time the incredible and overwhelming love Jesus has for me. And I heard that even if I was the only person on Earth, He still would have died on the cross. Just for me. Because He loves me. 

My Catholic school teacher led me to Jesus to personally know Him and fall in love with Him. And once I figured that out, my life was never the same. I STRIVE to be that same Catholic school teacher to my students. I want to lead them to fall in love with Jesus through my joyful witness, through prayer (especially the Rosary), through being immersed in Scripture and the Sacraments, through serving others, and through retreat encounters. God called me to be a Catholic school teacher, and I said YES. I continue to say YES every day by showing my students Christ’s love. Every day. 

So, thank you, Ms. Koshiol, for being the best teacher I ever had (Catholic school or not), and for leading me to know how God is calling me to serve Him. Through being a Catholic school teacher. This is why I choose Catholic education. #CathEdSocial