September 20, 2023 at 9:59 a.m.
'A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY'
TE: Talk about your history teaching in the Diocese.
AH: I have been a teacher at Saratoga Central Catholic since 2015. I taught social studies there, grades 7-9-10-11-12.
TE: What drew you to St. Mary’s when the job became open?
AH: When I found out that the position became available, I had known Father (Francis) Vivacqua for many years and worked with him at Saratoga Central Catholic. He was the school’s pastor there years ago and I also knew him from attending St. Mary’s. When he contacted me, it was extremely exciting to think that I would be working together with Father Vivacqua at St. Mary’s which is a fantastic school. I had the privilege of teaching many of St. Mary’s graduates at Saratoga Catholic and you could always tell a St. Mary’s kid. They are just wonderful. To be a part of such a great school and to work with Father Vivacqua, to work with these absolutely amazing teachers that we have here, it was an easy choice.
TE: What does Father Francis Vivacqua bring to the school and the students?
AH: His passion, his love for the church, the school, the kids, for everything here, what an amazing dynamic. Everything that he brings to this school and this community, it is just incredible to be a part of it, and it strengthens my own faith as well. It is just a wonderful opportunity.
TE: Has faith always been an important component in your life?
AH: It has been important for all my life and meeting and marrying my wife, Monica, 30 years ago now, she has taught me so much about the faith and has been such an inspiration in my journey through faith and life. She is my inspiration.
TE: Is it hard to follow in longtime principal Lynn Fitzgerald’s footsteps?
AH: Big steps to fill. She was a very popular principal who was here many, many years and I think that it’s important at this point in St. Mary’s — the parish is growing, the school is growing, our projected growth is really exciting — to look forward. The teachers that are here are just so amazing and so great to work with and I feel blessed to be a part of their team.
TE: How do you infuse the Catholic identity into the framework of the school?
AH: Catholic identity here is very strong. Father and I are working together to make it even stronger, if that is possible. The teachers that are here help make it strong as well because they all teach the Catholic faith, they all participate in all aspects of the Catholic faith. With Father Vivacqua here, to make that even stronger, it is just a wonderful, wonderful opportunity.
TE: What do you tell prospective families and students about St. Mary’s?
AH: We offer a small class size. We offer a safer campus environment. Father Vivacqua instituted a lot of things just before I arrived; a lot of safety and security upgrades. We have a full time SRO (School Resource Officer), we have cameras on our campus, we have updated security procedures. We offer an extremely safe campus for our students, small class sizes, strong Catholic identity and faith, and Masses regularly. Our teachers are always providing cutting-edge academics, always looking for ways to improve on those through data-driven instruction and through incredible collaboration with each other and with administration. Everybody works together as one big team, as one big family.
TE: Have you made any changes in your tenure so far?
AH: I am still settling in. There are changes and projects right on the horizon that we are working on right now that will be announced soon with our growth. With any growth, comes some changes and we are excited about that. … One of the things that we are working on is a lot of projects with Saratoga Central Catholic on having their kids come here to teach Catholic identity and to volunteer at this school. We already had some of the Spa Catholic kids come and volunteer to get community service hours, to help teachers set up their classroom. So there is a lot of cross collaboration because we share a lot of the same families and a lot of the same parents. That whole K-through-12 is like one big, giant K-through-12 campus in many ways.
TE: Do you have a motto or phrase that you like to fall back on?
AH: One of my favorite prayers is to the Blessed Mother, it is very simple but I think very straight forward and that is: Our Lady of Victory, pray for us. Every day is full of small victories and large victories and Our Lady intercedes, it seems here, on a very regular basis in helping to keep our students safe and helping to keep the teachers strong and it is an amazing thing to see. There are a lot of things that have happened over the past few weeks and in my life that have quite miraculously worked out and I thank Father Vivacqua and the intercession of Our Lady.
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