Meet the Teach 

     I arrived at my current job six years ago to teach Senior English. I have been teaching for over 20 years. My teaching career began in 1968 when, at the age of 20, with two years of college, I was recruited to help fill the teacher shortage. I was given emergency certification and walked into a sixth grade classroom filled with 65 students. For the next 10 years I taught in three different schools, eventually teaching every subject and coaching just about every sport. In 1977 I was named Outstanding Educator by the Archdiocese  of Philadelphia.   

      In 1978 I joined the Franciscan Friars as a brother. The Franciscans decided I would spend my life in education and, to prepare me for this, I spent the next three years experiencing as many different types of teaching as possible. The first year I taught 8th grade Math and Science in an inner city school in the poorest section of Buffalo, NY. The next semester I taught senior girls Church History and Marriage at the most exclusive girls school in Buffalo. The following year I taught one semester in a day care center working with two year old children. The next semester I worked in a senior citizen center in Boston, MA. At the same time I was part of a work-study program at Harvard U.  The next year I was made a communications director for the Pope's first visit to the United States and taught in a maximum security prison in Lorton, VA. I was also working on my Masters degree in Theology. 

     I then left the Franciscans and accepted a job as Director of Religious Education and assistant principal in a parish in North East Philadelphia. After 4 years, I was "tired of being poor" and left education. For the next fifteen years I worked as a Human resource manager, a Realtor and a project manager responsible for a large consumer product recall. The company I worked for made fire sprinklers and had somehow made 10 million sprinklers that didn't work. My job was to locate them and oversee their replacement. We found them in the White House, Smithsonian Institute, Michael Jackson's ranch, Bill Gates house and in many foreign countries. I had the job of negotiating with foreign companies and, in some cases, governments. It was here that I was introduced to technology. Each time I would be introduced to some new software program I would imagine how exciting it would be to use the application in a classroom. After much thought I decided to return to education and accepted a short term position at Archbishop Ryan High School. The following September I accepted a permanent position at Kennedy Kenrick Catholic High School in Norristown. After two years, the Office of Catholic Education transferred me to my present position. 

      Outside school I enjoy wood working, golf, reading, watching the Eagles win and learning as much as I can about technology.             

       My philosophy of education is simple. I have learned that God gives each of us the potential to do something incredible with our life. My job is to help my students to discover, challenge, develop and celebrate this amazing gift. I guess it could be said that my job is to help individuals to feel the presence of God in his or her life. I left the board room for the classroom and have never looked back.