Christendom’s Career and Professional Development Office hosted an education-focused Life on Tap on September 20, where alumni Bailey Young ’19, Annie Heisler ’22, and Ben Guza ’22 shared their insights and successes in working as teachers with the student body.
Young is a first-grade teacher at Chelsea Academy in Front Royal, VA. Heisler also works at Chelsea Academy, teaching sixth grade, after spending a year teaching with the Seton Teaching Fellows in New York. After spending a year working at a charter school in Texas, Guza recently returned to Front Royal to serve as a math and science teacher and head of men’s formation at John Paul the Great Montessori Academy in Front Royal.
The Christendom liberal arts curriculum, far from limiting its graduates in their future careers, opens the door to a world of possibilities in nearly every major field. Through the study of the Catholic liberal arts, Christendom’s students encounter a universal study of knowledge — through mathematics, history, literature, classics, and political science — unified by the central role of philosophy and theology.
All three alumni emphasized the need to get a taste of teaching early on, and they highly recommended taking the Teaching Practicum course offered at Christendom to determine whether this vocation is for them. The Teaching Practicum is a six-credit course offered to seniors that partners with local schools to give students concrete experience with teaching to aid them in their post-graduation plans. There is a common misconception that one needs an education degree and must be certified before being hired to teach at a school, but Christendom alumni – with their varied liberal arts degrees and without certification – are highly sought after, and hired immediately upon graduation by many private, independent, and Catholic schools.
Each of these alumni attributed their success in teaching to the “love for learning” they received and cultivated at Christendom. Not all of them knew that they wanted to go into teaching at first, but Christendom taught them the discipline and perseverance needed to try something new. Each of them experienced ups and downs, but they were willing to get back up and learn from every mistake, and to take on opportunities where they were not yet experts. This openness to learning is a cornerstone of Christendom’s liberal arts education. As St. John Henry Newman observed, “by seeking the truth through various disciplines, the student attains an intellectual prowess in which he can take up any career and thrive with competence, versatility, and success.”
The Life on Tap series connects successful alumni in various fields with current students, demonstrating the paths that countless alumni have taken to succeed after graduating. Two additional Life on Tap events will be hosted this semester, covering the topics of communications and project management.
For more information on Christendom’s networking resources and the previous Life on Tap recordings related to teaching, visit the links below.
Contributed by Helen Davis ’25.