The first thing you notice when you leave the friendly confines of the Notre Dame campus as a graduate is how little you know. The second thing? How much you miss it.

I have never been a big “Domer.” Several people were surprised by my decision to join the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) program and remain at ND (in a way) for two more years. In weighing the options and my own dreams, I ultimately decided that God was calling me to serve in ACE and thus, I was thrust into south central Los Angeles.

ACE was created to serve under-funded Catholic schools throughout the southern half of the country, and St. Michael’s Catholic School fits the description well. After years of declining enrollment and debating our shuttering last year, we have reached nearly 200 students and are continuing to grow. I have 21 fifth graders who depend on me to help them reach grade level, prepare them for middle school (junior high), and reach a good high school. Everyday, I plan, teach, and lead in seven subjects – constantly surrounded by calls of “Teacher!” and “Mr. D!” (On a side note, three syllable names are extremely difficult to say for most elementary students.)

Los Angeles mirrors this hyperactivity seen in my class. It’s sprawling – you can drive through greater LA for two hours – in light traffic. Millions of people live their lives in a series of blocks dominated by fast food, 99 cent stores, liquor stores, and gas stations – far away from the glitz and glamour showcased on television.

 In a school with 70 percent single-families and where 97 percent receive financial aid to attend, nine teachers are battling to install Catholic values and intellectual rigor amongst children whose expectations might end at surviving to age 14 or receiving an 8th grade diploma. I am not a saint. It is a daily struggle and one that often casts doubt in my own mind – but one that is necessary.

Here in the dirty urban expanse of Los Angeles, the Golden Dome of Notre Dame, the peacefulness of the Grotto, the community of Notre Dame Stadium is overcome by the spires of downtown Los Angeles obscured by smog, the traffic sounds echoing from the freeway, and the any-man-for-himself mentality which dominates. And yet, the echoes of the Alma Mater and Fight Song find their ways even down here – among those cast out as unwanted, unnecessary, even illegal.

With three ACE teachers, Notre Dame is making a difference at St. Michael’s. The no man-land between the better known locales of Compton and Inglewood has been given an opportunity to receive an education grounded not just in academic excellence, but also in morals, service, and athleticism. The Golden Dome may not prepare you for the brutal world that exists past Edison, but even Manchester Avenue can feel the love that bubbles up amongst our community in South Bend.

As a teacher, the balance between being a disciplinarian and a loving adult is the most difficult thing (at least for your humble author). However, it is through respect, planning, support, and discipline that students see that love. A love that is given back in notes (for example, at the bottom of a spelling test, one student wrote “Mr. D is the coolest!”), homework assignments (use our spelling word ‘tough’ in a sentence: “Mr. D is tough on us.”), and hundreds of looks every week.

As the non-family member that 21ten year-olds will interact with the most, there is a sense of pressure which permeates the role of a teacher. A pressure which builds steam even as those loving looks are seen. A pressure which especially rises with every act of misbehavior.

However, I do not face that pressure alone. The ACE program rests upon three pillars – professionalism, community, and spirituality. These pillars intertwine, supporting an ACE teacher that most likely works in an under-funded, under-resourced school located in a rural area or inner-city neighborhood. I am blessed to have four wonderful housemates, which sustain me (and each other) through the good days where lesson plans work to perfection and students get A’s and bad days when students can’t seem to stay in their seats.

Spirituality is the sea on which ACE floats. A sense of mission enriched with prayer and the sacraments carries the program, the teachers, and the schools. As a Catholic school, we are able to offer academic and athletic support, but we spread the faith first. As the university sets its foundations in Catholicism as a means to achieving academic and athletic excellence, we do so as well.

The key to success as a university and as a teacher at St. Michael’s lies concretely in a firm foundation in Catholicism. Academic and athletic glory is for naught without the religious conscience which encourages humility, perseverance, and temperance. Catholic institutions from the nation’s foremost university to its poorest and smallest elementary schools must remain mindful of the need for fidelity to the Catholic values which make them so great and are so needed in the world today.

Kevin Donohue served as The Rover’s publisher for three years prior to his May ’10 graduation.  Contact him at Kmdra06@yahoo.com.