Where are you from originally? 

I’m from Belleville, Illinois. I was raised in East St. Louis for a while. Then I moved to Belleville once I got to sixth grade. 

Where did you go to college? 

I went to college at the University of Northern Colorado. I got my bachelor’s in special education there. Then I did a master’s program at Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

What inspired you to become a teacher? 

I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I didn’t know exactly what subject area I wanted to teach. I chose English, but I didn’t like reading too much. I got to college and I met a girl. Her name was Danielle. She was telling me that she was going into special education. She started telling me about a special education program and also telling me about her dad who was a special education teacher. Immediately after that, I went to the office and changed my major to special education. 

What’s your favorite memory as a student?

Prom my senior year was probably one of the most fun moments I had.

What other jobs have you had?

At my last high school, I worked specifically with students with emotional disabilities who got into different fights. At the elementary level, I worked with a lot of students who were non-verbal. At the last high school I worked at, called bridges, it taught kids a lot of experience with cooking, working with laundry, doing different outdoors activities, and setting those students up that don’t have the opportunity to pursue a college education or work in any type of corporate job. We  prepared them for jobs at fast food restaurants, Walmart, and things of that nature.

What have you learned from those experiences? 

That everybody can learn. Also, how students with intellectual disabilities show how lazy or naïve that we can be. I have had students who are more fortunate who don’t take advantage of opportunities, and then you have students who have extreme disabilities and different things of that nature who can’t. It’s a humbling experience that you never know what somebody else is going through.  That causes you to be better in your day-to-day life.

What are some of your hobbies now?

I enjoy gaming. I play Madden. I like cooking. I like re-watching old movies. Movies that I’ve seen before, I’ll just watch them all over again every day. I like to play golf as well.

What is your favorite movie?

I would say American Gangster.

What are you going to be coaching this year?

I’m coaching safeties for the football team.

What’s your favorite book?  

Mine is Where the Red Fern Grows. I also like Phantom Tollbooth. I read that in sixth grade. It’s a book that works with a lot of figurative language. It has a lot of metaphors and similes, and they use a lot of the characters in there to teach students how to use figurative language in their writing.

What’s the most interesting place you’ve traveled to?

I would say Missoula, Montana. We played against the Montana Grizzlies. It was like College GameDay. You have the stadium and have the fans right behind you. Then on the backdrop of the stadium, you could just see the mountains. It was beautiful. 

What are you most looking forward to in your first year at De Smet? 

Working with and getting to know you guys. I think that’s the thing I look most forward to at any place I go whether that’s a school after this or any school before. I enjoy working with the students.

Where are you from originally?

I’m from St. Charles, Missouri.

What college did you attend?

I went to the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.

What drew you to accounting?

I really enjoyed math and that drew me to this position.

Have you had any previous jobs before this?

When I was in high school, I worked at a bookstore. Then once I graduated college, I worked at a law firm called Evan and Dixon for 12 years.

What was your favorite memory as a student?

Going off to college and being more independent and learning how to get through life on my own.

What are your hobbies now?

I have three kids, so my hobbies are pretty much centered around watching my children’s sports and taking them to activities. My favorite hobby is doing puzzles.

What’s your favorite book?

I really like the author, Jodi Picoult.

What’s your favorite movie?

My favorite is Encanto.

What’s the most interesting place you’ve traveled to?

I stayed in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

If you could meet anyone historical or living, who would it be? And what would you say to them?

I would want to meet any U.S. president and ask them why they wanted to lead the entire country.

What are you most looking forward to in your first year at DeSmet?

So far, it’s been wonderful. Everyone is super nice. I’m just looking forward to getting to know the people that work here. Also, working in a catholic school is a big change from my old job.

Where are you from originally? 

I am from Aurora, Colorado. It’s just outside of Denver.

Where did you go to college?

I went to Colorado School of Mines, which is in Golden Colorado. I got two engineering degrees, one bachelor’s, and one master’s.

What inspired you to become a teacher and pursue a career in education?

So all of my family, they’re all teachers. I wanted to be a teacher through freshman year of high school. I worked as an engineer for a few years and then decided that I’m going to go back and try out this teaching thing.

How did you hear about the ASC program?

Through freshman year theology class, we got a list of Jesuit buzz words. We had to memorize all the definitions,  and one of the definitions of ASC was Alumni Service Corps. I realized this sounded cool.

Where did you go to high school?

 I went to Regis Jesuit High School.

What subjects are you planning to teach this year?

I will be teaching Junior physics. I’ll be the conceptual physics teacher and then the general physics teacher.

What drew you to that subject? 

I did an engineering degree, so that’s kind of the root of it. I always loved math and science in high school. I took pretty much every AP science that my school offered which included three years of physics.

Did you know much about St. Louis before you moved here? 

Well, so my twin sister, she actually lives in Creve Coeur, seven minutes away. So when I got placed here, I said to her we’re going to see a lot of each other. Most of my other research for Missouri and St. Louis has just been hiking trails within about a two-hour drive as well.

What is your favorite memory as a student?

I got to teach an introductory freshman course. It was a stem course. We got a whole bunch of freshmen, and took a bunch of people who knew they were good at math and science. I got to show them how you convert it into being an engineer. 

What were your hobbies and interests as a kid? And what are they now?

I was a big softball player for most of my childhood. I was a division champion for six years. I always loved math and science and did three years of science fair, even though we were only required to do two. I also do lots of hiking, just getting outdoors. It’s pretty common in Colorado.

What is your favorite book?

That’s a good question. I’m gonna go with the classic Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Great book, science fiction.

What is your favorite movie?

Mine is Mr. Holland’s Opus. It’s an older one. It’s about a music teacher, who is learning through his students how to teach music.

What would you say is the most interesting job you’ve had? 

I worked at the White House for a little bit. I was an agency liaison intern where I would sort casework that would come in from correspondence to and from the President.  It was a really fun summer I got to spend in DC. I got to meet with a bunch of people from the Department of Transportation and meet President Trump himself.

What are you most looking forward to in your first year?

I’m excited to learn to teach. I did a little bit of teaching in college and I’m excited to get back to the Jesuit philosophy of teaching. Teaching the whole student physics is a great way to teach that because it’s just re-teaching your world that you guys already know and have known. 

Where are you from originally? 

St. Louis 

Where did you go to high school?

I went to Ursuline. 

Where did you go to college? 

I started off at Mizzou and then I graduated from St. Louis University.

What inspired you to like to take the job in the Spartan shop? 

I didn’t seek this job out. Kim Koenig initially brought it up to me because before I was at the St. Joe Spirit Shop. The community and environment is why I’m here. Plus, my son just graduated this past year.

What’s your favorite memory as a student?

I would just say the best memories are all the friends that I still have. 

What were your hobbies and interests as a kid and what are they now?

I played tennis in high school, and I still play tennis now. I used to love to draw. I don’t do that anymore. I went to college to be a sportscaster. I’m not doing anything related to that. Now, I’ve just been in retail.

What’s your favorite book?

I like John Grisham books. I don’t really have a favorite one. 

What’s your favorite movie?

I’d say Old School. I can also rewatch Pretty Woman over and over.

What’s the most interesting place you’ve traveled to?

If it doesn’t have a beach, I don’t go. Key West was the most interesting because their beaches are not what people think beaches are. You picture most beaches as sand walking into the ocean. In Key West, there are no beaches like that. It just drops off. 

If you could meet anyone living or historical who would it be and what would you ask them? 

I would meet Princess Diana. She was just a great person that we didn’t get to see all of what her talents were.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things are you going to take with you?

I would take my phone because everybody nowadays can’t live without their phone. I would take a deck cards to play some solitaire. I’d also have a boat for transportation.

What are you most looking forward to this year?

I’m looking forward to all the students coming in. I’m looking forward to seeing a different side with all the guys. Plus, we’re making some improvements to the shop.

Where are you from originally?

I was born and raised in St. Louis out in West County. I went to St. Alban Roe grade school, and then moved on to that other Jesuit high school (SLUH). After that, I went to Notre Dame and graduated from there in the spring of 2022.

What was your experience like at Notre Dame?

It was awesome. Obviously, it was a good time to be a Notre Dame student. We made it to the national championship tournament twice. It’s just a great campus. It’s a great place to be.

What inspired you to become a teacher?

My teachers in high school all really inspired me. All the English teachers that I had were great. I just hope that I can pay that forward for students in the future.

What subjects are you planning on teaching in the upcoming school year?

I’m going to be teaching English to freshmen & sophomores.

What drew you to that subject?

I’ve always been interested in stories and in reading, movies, art, and anything about telling stories. I’m not good at making visual art, like painting or anything. It’s in novels and poetry that I really found my passion.

What is your favorite book?

My favorite book is The Odyssey. It was the first book that I read in high school. I think that it has something for everyone. It has excitement, serious drama, poetry, interesting wordplay, and is pure fun to read.

What’s your favorite movie?

My favorite movie is 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s kind of funny, I chose an odyssey in both of my answers. I do think that that is the greatest thing that we’ve done with the art form of movies. It’s just so massive, a work that overcomes you when you watch it.

If you could meet anyone living or historical, who would it be and what would you ask them?

I would meet Bob Dylan. He’s my favorite songwriter. I got to see him perform once, but he’s also a very strange guy. It would definitely be an interesting conversation. His songs qualify as poetry with anyone. In 2017, when I was in high school, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. This got me curious. Can a rock and roller really write literature? That’s how I got into him.

What do you most look forward to in your first year of teaching?

I love the idea of teaching high school. Actually being able to live out what I’ve wanted to do since I was in high school is great.

Where are you from originally?

I was born and raised in St. Louis. 

Where’d you go to high school?

I went to De Smet. I graduated in 2018, so I’m really only five or six years removed from here.

Who or what inspired you to come back to De Smet?

Mr. Welling was one of my favorite teachers I had here. I kept in touch with him all throughout college and even after college. He was a big part of inspiring me to come back to De Smet. He made a big sales pitch for me on why I should come back.  I was also really close with Senora Bowman when I was here in high school. She just ingrained all that Spanish knowledge in my head whether I wanted to or not.

Did Mr. Welling have his sparkling water? 

Yes, every time we would go out to get lunch or anything throughout college, he’d always be drinking his Perry Air.

Where did you go to college and what was your path to get here?

I went to Mizzou. I studied finance and banking because I had no idea what I wanted to do. I ended up working in commercial real estate for a little bit, and that was fine, but just wasn’t my passion. It just came down to the day-to-day that was very mundane. I met with Mr. Sullivan, who was a former admissions director and had lunch to talk about a possible transition. Three weeks later, Mrs. Lang reached out regarding a position opening up. Just from the conversations with them, I knew it was a good fit. 

What’s your favorite memory from school?

I always loved going to the hockey games or football games, just being in the stands getting rowdy and being stupid with my friends. High school dances were always fun as well. Even helping out with Admissions events was fun too.

What were your hobbies and interests as a kid and how have they changed?

As a kid, I was primarily just focused on whatever sport I was playing. As I got to high school, I realized I’m not all that great at sports. High school served as a transition time for me. I love to do anything outdoors, going for hikes, kayaking, or camping. I also love Cardinals baseball even though this year has been depressing. I’d probably go to 25 games a year. Within school, I just ended up getting involved in leadership opportunities with Campus Ministry, Spanish club, and stuff like that. Now, along with some of my friends, we run the youth ministry at St. Catherine Laboure.

What is your favorite book?

It’s called Mitch. It’s about taking the extra step to go above and beyond and set yourself apart from other people. 

What is your favorite movie?

I like the stupid funny movies like Stepbrothers, Wedding Crashers, The Other Guys, Anchorman, etc.

What’s the most interesting place you’ve traveled to?

I studied abroad when I was in college, but it actually ended up getting cut short because of COVID. For about two and a half months I studied abroad in Spain. It was nice living in a place where you could walk to the beach. In my travels across Europe, I would say going to Interlochen in Switzerland was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done. It had big mountain ranges surrounding you along with beautiful lakes. My brother and I actually ended up going skydiving while we were there.

What are you most looking forward to in your first year of being part of the admissions at De Smet?

I’m just excited for all of the guys to get back here. I started my job in June but it’s going to feel a whole lot different once the guys get back here.

Where are you from originally?

I’m originally from Chesterfield.

Where’d you go to college?

I ended up going to college at Missouri State down in Springfield, Missouri.

What inspired you to become a teacher?

It was actually the teachers at De Smet that inspired me. I knew I wanted to do something in social studies, and all the social studies teachers that I had throughout the years were great. I had Father Kramer for two years. I had Mr. Sothers for my junior year. I actually had Mr. Lenzini for a Cold War class my senior year. All those interactions, even outside of social studies, inspired me to decide to take my social studies talents and use them in the classroom. 

How was your De Smet experience? 

I’d say it was fun. I hung out with my friends a lot. I tried a bunch of different clubs. Some of them I wouldn’t go on to do, some of them inspired me to take that next step in college with eSports and leadership roles. Education wise, I took a couple of AP classes and applied myself in the classroom as well.

What subject are you going to teach?

I will be teaching freshman geography and sophomore world history.

What are some of your favorite memories of students?

Missouri State is where my passion for Esports grew. It maybe grew a little bit out of control. While I was at De Smet, the main thing that I felt like I contributed was the plays. I did a lot of theater back then, and was lucky enough to be able to do a play all four years at De Smet. 

What’s your favorite book?

My favorite is Air Man by Elon Colfer. It is a really good book that I enjoyed in my younger years. 

What’s the most interesting place you’ve traveled to?

I went to six different cities in my study abroad program at Missouri State. I went to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin and Prague.

What are you most looking forward to in your first year of teaching here at De Smet?

Learning from a lot of the experienced teachers that have been here for a long time. I’m definitely interested in interacting with them in order to learn from them and improve as a teacher.

Where are you from originally?

I’m from the St. Louis area.

Where did you go to high school?

I went to Marquette High School

Where did you go to college?

I went to Missouri Baptist University.

What inspired you to come to De Smet?

I wanted change. It is very different here compared to Villa. I would say I’m more involved with the student side of things and less just entirely in the back end where you don’t see me.

What do you do as the financial services coordinator?

I handle tuition, updating tuition accounts, like if parents want to adjust anything with their payment schedules. I distribute financial aid. I send out tuition contracts that parents sign every year. I create reports with a lot of data and put it into a report so people can understand it.

What is your favorite memory as a student?

Playing in districts for soccer in my very first year in high school.

What hobbies and interests outside of work do you have?

I love to read. I can read multiple books in a day.

What is your favorite movie?

My favorite is Disney’s Frozen.

What are some interesting places you’ve traveled to and a bucket list place you’d like to travel to?

I went to Mexico for the first time this summer. As a bucket list item, an island off of Portugal called Azores Island. I’d love to go there.

If you had to live in any time period, what would it be?

I’d like to live in the 20s.

What are you most looking forward to in your first year at De Smet? 

I’m just looking forward to interacting with the students and parents more than I did.

Where are you from originally? 

I was born in Columbus, Ohio and I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.

What college did you attend? 

I went to get my undergraduate at Notre Dame, and I was an engineer. Then I worked for a few years and then got an MBA at the University of Virginia.

Who inspired you to become a teacher? 

I don’t know if anybody inspired me. I was in the business world for 20 years and it wasn’t satisfying to me. I looked at different options and decided to give teaching a try. As opposed to heaven, I don’t know if I have anyone in particular who inspired me. I never thought in high school I’d be a teacher.

What were your previous jobs before De Smet? 

I taught for 17 years at Visitation Academy, and before that, I taught for five years at Duchesne over in St. Charles. Also, before that, I was in the business world. I used to work for Progressive Insurance and then a couple of other companies. I came out of retirement to do this because you had a math teacher leave.

What was your favorite memory as a student? 

The friends that I made and some of which I’m still friends with today.

What drew you to teach mathematics? 

That was my strongest area in high school when I was a student. Then in the business world, I was an engineer, which is mathematics-related. Also, I worked for an insurance company, and I did a lot of statistics. I’m just really strong in the mathematics area.

What are your hobbies now? 

I love to play golf. I also help coach the Visitation golf team where I used to teach. Also, getting together with my kids.

What’s your favorite book and how did it influence you? 

My favorite book must be the Bible. Not that I read it a lot, but in church, you hear it and have the life lessons that it applies. Other than that, I kind of like mysteries a lot. I read a lot of mystery books and try to figure out who killed who.

What is your favorite movie? 

The Beverly Hills Cop movies. I like those a lot because hey are funny and interesting.

What’s the most interesting place you’ve traveled to in your lifetime? 

This summer, I went to Scotland and played 10 of the St. Andrews courses. I also played four other British Open rotation courses such as Carnoustie, Troon, and Turnberry. I also went on a service trip a few years ago with a bunch of high schoolers to Nicaragua, and that was a very eye-opening experience to stay there.

If you could meet anyone historical or living, who would it be, and what would you say to them? 

George Washington and I would ask him how he decided to do all the stuff that he did as general, then the first president, and then not wanting to be president for more than two terms.

What are you most looking forward to at De Smet in your first year? 

I would say getting to know the students here, especially the students that I teach, and trying to improve their critical thinking abilities.

Where are you from originally? 

I’m from St. Louis.

Where’d you go to college? 

I went to Mizzou, and I was there from 1993 through 1997.

What jobs did you hold before taking this one?

I was in data networking, and data migrations. I came out of school and got a job with Monsanto. That’s where my data career started. I worked with scientists in the lab and then started working with putting all their data in systems and making systems talk to each other. From there, I went to a data networking company. Then I quit and stayed at home for 12 years to raise my four children. Then I went back to MasterCard for one year, just to see because my youngest was only two at the time. I went back to see if I could handle a full time job with them. I did it for one year and then decided to stay home again. When my oldest son Ty came here, I decided to come back on a part time capacity. Then I left here and went full time at Ameren and Enterprise consulting for them. Then I got the call from Jeff Cernicek asking if I would be interested in coming back. I realized here has more of a work-life balance compared to corporate work having crazy hours.

What were some of your favorite memories as a student?

I don’t know. I always liked school. I have this discussion with my kids all the time. I still love learning. I geek out on watching Excel YouTube tricks and videos. I do Bible studies. For me, I was always a student who was very engaged in my classrooms. I always sat in the front because I could stay more engaged with the teachers.

What is your favorite book? 

I would say Traveling Light by Max Lucado. It’s all about the luggage of life and not carrying your burdens with you, but giving it up to God. I actually wrote my grandma’s eulogy based upon that book, so it reminds me of my grandma.

What is your favorite movie?

I love the Star Wars movies. I like all of them, even the new ones because it’s something we’ve done as a family around Christmas time with all the new ones being released. We make it a big family affair. We then go home and watch the old ones.

What is your favorite place you’ve traveled to?

My favorite place I’ve been to is Maui. My mom took me there for my 40th birthday and every place was prettier than the next. 

What are you most looking forward to in your first year at De Smet?

I just took on a new role, helping Kim Koenig and Fr. O’Dwyer. I took over the scheduling for his calendar. I’m trying to balance that with my data role. It’s a shift in mindset. I look forward to creating efficiencies, processes, procedures, and making things a little more uniform.

Where are you from originally?

I’m from the St. Louis area. 

Where’d you go to college? 

I went to Notre Dame for my bachelor’s. 

What inspired you to become a teacher? 

Bryan Traughber and other teachers inspired me. They were all awesome. 

What drew you to teach history?

I’ve always been interested in social studies and not necessarily history. Primarily, government and economics I like. That’s what I studied in college. 

What’s your favorite memory as a student?

It’s been so long. I guess one really good one is the sectional race in cross country when I was a senior with my bunch of guys who I still hang out with today. We hit a bunch of PRs and it was awesome. Another memory was a surprise day off I had as a junior. They brought us in for an assembly and then said, there’s no school today. We did some olympic events and had tons of fun. 

What are your hobbies right now? 

I’m a big gardener. While I was younger, I would play Zelda and still do. I also played Tears of the Kingdom and Evil Ocarina on the Nintendo 64.

What is your favorite book?

It’s called The Sparrow. It’s about Jesuits in space. They discover aliens, and then one of the Jesuits is sent on the mission to make that first contact. Then he has a crisis of faith. It’s really good.

What’s your favorite movie?

I like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the extended edition.

What’s the most interesting place you’ve traveled to?

One of the more memorable spots I went to was Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. I got to watch a lot of events and work for NBC while I was there.

If you could meet anyone living or historical, who would it be and what would you ask them?

I would want to meet John Gillespie, my great great great grandfather who came here from Ireland.

What are you most looking forward to in your first full year teaching at De Smet.

I’m really excited to teach a couple new classes this year. I have a government course and economics, which are two classes I’ve always wanted to teach. I’ve always enjoyed getting more into those social studies courses. 

Where are you from originally?

I’m from Kirkwood, Missouri.

Where did you go to high school?

I went to St. Joseph’s Academy.

Where did you go to college?

I went to the University of Kansas.

What was your major there?

I majored in business communications.

How would you describe your path professionally from KU up to now?

Right out of college, I worked in sales at the Frontenac Hilton.  I did that for three and a half years. Then, I went into pharmaceutical sales and worked in pharmaceutical sales for seven years. I helped launch Allegra, which was, at the time, brand new and an exciting drug to sell. I sold Allegra and various other drugs until I decided to stay home with my first kid who was two years old at the time, and I was pregnant with number two. Starting in 2002, up until about seven years ago, I stayed at home with our kids, and then three years ago started working full time at the Cathedral Basilica on the Advancement team there. I worked on donations for the friends of the Cathedral. All of the money we raised there went towards the restoration, renovation, and maintenance of the buildings of the Cathedral Basilica.

How was the transition from doing sales at Allegra to doing Advancement work at a high school?

I was a huge volunteer, so I did every single volunteer role I could at St. Gerard Majella. I did a lot of fundraising there. I also helped Boys Hope Girls Hope start their young executive board. Our family was always super involved with Boys Hope Girls Hope, and then just a lot of other volunteer roles that gave me the event and fundraising experience.

What is your favorite memory as a student?

I would say it was just the great friends that I made. All the traditions, all the dances,  and the “Killa Villa” game.

What are some of your hobbies outside of work?

When I was a kid, I loved to play tennis, ride my bike, and be outdoors. As an adult, that’s kind of translated into just loving to exercise, still playing tennis, and starting to play pickleball.

What is your favorite book or movie?

I do love to read and I loved to read as a kid. A book I just read was called The Chosen by Dr. Edith Edgar. She was a 98 year old Auschwitz survivor. She’s still living and she was also from Hungary where my in-laws immigrated from. It was just really interesting to hear it come from her voice because she’s just a bit older than my in-laws. It’s about how we all have a choice everyday on how we want to live our lives, and how nobody else can define that person. 

What is the most interesting place you have traveled to?

I would say Morocco.

Why did you go to Morocco?

Right out of college,  I backpacked for two months. When we were in southern Spain, we decided on a whim to go across the Strait of Gibraltar on this little ferry boat and we landed in Tangier. This was 30 years ago, and women were not like modern women. It was actually scary. We took the Marrakech express all the way from Tangier ten hours into Morocco, and saw the markets. It was very interesting because culturally, it was completely different than any other place I’d been to.

What are you most looking forward to in your role as Spartan Fund Director?

I love being a part of the Advancement team and working with Father O’Dwyer. We have so many awesome things happening, and I’m just excited to be a part of the momentum and enthusiasm.