By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Paul Ott, seen here addressing an assembly at his alma mater, has only been away from Cardinal Gibbons High School for the four years he attended the University of Notre Dame.
MIAMI | When Paul Ott goes back to school every August, he literally is going back to school.
Ott is not the only archdiocesan principal who has returned to lead the school where he studied. The others are: Lisa Figueredo of St. Thomas the Apostle School in Miami; Ana Garcia of Msgr. Edward Pace High School in Miami Gardens; Doug Romanik of Archbishop Curley Notre Dame Prep in Miami; and Teresita Wardlow of Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory in Hollywood.
Another Curley Notre Dame alumnus, Richard Jean, is now principal of Archbishop Edward McCarthy High School in Southwest Ranches. Gloria Ramos is assistant principal for academics at her alma mater, Our Lady of Lourdes.
It is unclear whether this brand loyalty is unique to the Archdiocese of Miami. A call to CARA, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, revealed that they have no statistics on the number of Catholic school graduates who return to their schools to teach or serve as principals. Neither does the National Catholic Educational Association.
The elementary schools with the highest percentage of alumni teachers were:
After graduating from the University of Florida, she worked as a third grade teacher at St. Thomas for seven years and became principal in 2004.
Teresita Wardlow also credits her return to her alma mater to a group of �phenomenal women,� the School Sisters of Notre Dame. They staffed the all-girls Madonna Academy until it merged in 1988 with its all-boys counterpart, Marianist-run Chaminade High School.
Ott has only spent four years of his adult life away from Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale � the four years between his graduation in 1966 and his completion of a bachelor�s degree at the University of Notre Dame.
When he returned from Indiana, he settled in as an English literature teacher at Gibbons, and in 2003 became principal of his alma mater.
�When I came back one of my brothers was a senior and my sister was a sophomore,� said Ott, recalling his first year, and how it took him some time to establish himself as a teacher and define his classroom management style.
�Some of the kids that I was teaching were guests in my father�s home,� he said. It took them a while to stop calling him Paul when they were in class.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Paul Ott, Cardinal Gibbons High School student council president, as seen in his senior yearbook.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Paul Ott is seen here on the football field, wearing a Cardinal Gibbons polo shirt.
Garcia�s husband, Edward, until last year was principal of his � and his wife�s � grade school alma mater, Immaculate Conception in Hialeah. This year, he became principal of St. Louis Covenant School in Pinecrest.
Another Curley Notre Dame alumnus, Richard Jean, is now principal of Archbishop Edward McCarthy High School in Southwest Ranches. Gloria Ramos is assistant principal for academics at her alma mater, Our Lady of Lourdes.
That list does not include local graduates who teach or serve as principals at other archdiocesan schools, such as Lourdes Academy graduate Luisa Serratore, who is now assistant principal at Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Doug Romanik returned to Archbishop Curley Notre Dame Prep after working as an attorney for his family's business.
But a voluntary survey conducted by The Florida Catholic with the help of the Department of Schools found that 27 of the 61 Catholic elementary and secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Miami have at least one alumnus on staff. Only six of the 33 schools that responded to the survey have no alumni on staff, and in some cases that�s because the school is too young. No one is old enough to have graduated, made it through college and come back.
Of those that responded to the survey, the schools with the largest percentage of alumni teachers were:
- Pace, where 45 percent of the faculty are graduates (and 67 percent graduated from other Catholic schools, the vast majority in the archdiocese);
- Lourdes Academy, where the number of alumni on staff is 28 percent;
- Immaculata-La Salle, with 26 percent;
- St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, with 22 percent; and
- Cardinal Gibbons with 19 percent.
The elementary schools with the highest percentage of alumni teachers were:
- St. Rose of Lima in Miami Shores, with nearly 17 percent;
- Nativity School in Hollywood, where 15 percent are alumni and 46 percent are graduates of archdiocesan schools;
- St. David in Davie and St. Thomas the Apostle in Miami, both with 13 percent alumni.
�Father Kubala hired me. It was my first job after college,� said Figueredo, referring to the parish�s former pastor, Father Daniel Kubala.
Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
Ana Garcia, current principal at Msgr. Edward Pace High School, poses with her husband, Eddy, until this year principal of his alma mater, Immaculate Conception School in Hialeah. The two met at Pace and are members of the 1980 graduating class.
�When I came to school here it was such a great place,� Figueredo said, noting that St. Thomas also is where she attends Mass and where her two children go to school.
�I think it�s the sense of community that we have here. The church is the school and the school is the church,� she said. �All of our teachers have their kids here, too.�
�Your first reaction is do I really want to do that?� said Romanik, a 1984 graduate of Curley Notre Dame, referring to the financial sacrifices made by those who work in Catholic schools. �I was drawn back here, I guess, just by the grace of God.�
Class of 2013: By the numbers
Here is some statistical information on the Catholic high school graduating class of 2013 in the Archdiocese of Miami.
Here is some statistical information on the Catholic high school graduating class of 2013 in the Archdiocese of Miami.
- 3,038: graduates
- $10,000: average annual high school tuition
- $170,000 (approximate): total scholarship money reported
- $56,000: average scholarship based on number of graduates; that is $14,000 per year at 4-year institution
- Over 750,000: service hours reported.
Romanik graduated from Harvard and studied law at the University of Miami. He was a practicing attorney for nearly seven years in the family business. After the business was sold, he went looking for a job. That�s when his former coach � one of several who became his mentors � asked him to finish out the year for a teacher who had gone on leave.
�I�ll give it a try,� Romanik remembers thinking, �and fell in love with it.�
Nine years later, he is still at the school, entering his second year as principal. So is his sister, Beth Love, a 1978 graduate of the all-girls Notre Dame Academy, which merged with the all-boys Archbishop Curley in 1981.
�As a new student in my senior year I arrived (here) new to the area, climate and way of life,� Love recalled. �I met a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Chauveron Sklaroff. She made me feel welcome and made it her mission to enhance all aspects of my life.�
As the years passed and her own children became Curley Notre Dame students, �I found I loved being on campus with my children. I found a peace I had not felt for a long time. It was then I decided to follow my dream of being a teacher.�
She finished her undergraduate studies, obtained a master�s in special education and began teaching at her alma mater.
�I have been here now over 12 years. There is not a day that goes by that I do not love my vocation, the students and what ACND stands for: faith, family and excellence,� Love said.
Photographer: FILE PHOTO
Teresita Wardlow spent 25 years at Msgr. Edward Pace High School before returning to serve as principal at her alma mater, Chaminade Madonna College Prep in Hollywood.
�It was hard leaving,� Wardlow said of her 1981 graduation. �I had such a positive experience there. The sisters were just such strong women and they were so inspirational to me.�
She majored in math and computers in college, but after a few months in the tech world she decided to try teaching. Through her involvement in a parish youth group she learned about Pace High and applied there � and at Cardinal Gibbons.
Pace called back. She wound up spending 25 years there, as a religion teacher, department head, campus minister, guidance counselor and ultimately assistant principal � under Ana Garcia.
�Except for coaching a sport, I did everything,� Wardlow said. �People just assumed I graduated from there.�
When the principal�s job opened up at Chaminade-Madonna, she was unsure what to do. �To walk away from just a phenomenal place. (Pace) was my home, really. So many of the alumni that are on staff, I taught them.�
She decided to apply for the position after �a lot, a lot of prayer� and the resurfacing of a thought she had buried long ago.
�I always told myself internally, one day, I�m going to give back,� Wardlow said. �I never knew how that was going to happen. God kind of put it in my path. I never thought it would be in this building.�
In fact, one of the women she most admired in high school, Sister Danielle Amspacher, was on the selection committee when she interviewed for the job. �I was petrified. All she did was laugh,� Wardlow recalled.
She took over as principal in July 2011. Even though she did not spend a lot of time on the Chaminade campus while studying at Madonna, the sibling schools did do some things together: pep rallies in the Chaminade gym; homecoming football games and dances; campus ministry meetings in the Chaminade chapel.
She and three other Madonna girls were even invited to attend an overnight retreat with �about 20 or 30� Chaminade guys at the Passionist monastery in Palm Beach.
�That component feels very familiar,� Wardlow said, referring to the Marianist brothers and priests being �so welcoming and hospitable. I felt it when I went to school and it�s here now.�
But �the feel of coming back gets really strong when I see the Madonna women� at their school reunions, she said. That�s when she is reminded of the message the Sisters of Notre Dame ingrained in her and all their students: You will be� wives, mothers, career women, strong, successful, women of faith, women of justice.
�Just change the world. Go at it,� Wardlow said. �You will be faith-filled. And you are going to make a difference. That�s the strong message I got from beginning to end and it�s never left me�
"How do you thank somebody eternally for something like that?�
