Among the new faces at Saint John the Evangelist School this fall is the friendly, familiar face of Kate Christopher. Our new Second and Third grade math and reading teacher may be new to the SJE classroom, but she is not new to the parish community. Long before Kate Christopher appeared on campus this fall to teach, she has been a presence within the SJE parish community as a CCD teacher, baptism preparation teacher, vacation bible school coordinator, children’s liturgy teacher and children’s liturgy coordinator. Many of our students and parents knew Kate well before she arrived in our primary school wing.

Born in Connecticut, Kate spent most of her early years in Pennsylvania and Missouri. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia (B.S. in Education and B.A. in Spanish) and earned a Masters in Education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. After graduate school, she taught as an elementary and junior high school teacher for eight years in Kansas City. While she enjoyed her years in the classroom, Kate felt like God was calling her to do more. So she headed to New York City to join Mercy Corps, a lay missionary group run by the Sisters of Mercy. While in New York, Kate worked for a parish, setting up education outreach programs for homeless men and women. She assisted in the running of their soup kitchen and shelter, and administered their summer ESL and GED programs.

It was on her first day in New York, that she met her future husband Tim at a priest friend’s house. “I knocked at the door for dinner and Tim answered!....and it always felt to us that God had planned for us to be together- it just took me taking that leap to try and discern what I was being called to do and then doing it.” Kate and Tim were married a year later and moved to DC where Tim would attend Georgetown University Law School and Kate would run the Dorothy Day transitional homeless shelter for women run by Catholic Charities. Their daughter Elizabeth was born during this time. After law school, Tim accepted a job in New York. A year later, in the fall of 2001, Kate, Tim, 2-year-old daughter Elizabeth and new baby Joey returned to the Washington area to settle.

While shopping around for a parish, they stumbled upon St. John’s 9:00 a.m. Mass and knew they had come home. She describes the welcoming feeling they felt within the church community and “the way all the kids were accepted and welcomed”. Even the noisy ones! They also loved the children’s liturgies. So much so that soon after arriving at St. John’s, Kate signed up to teach the children’s liturgy! Additionally, after attending Ann and Tom Johnson's baptism preparation class, Kate and Tim volunteered to teach the class for future families preparing for the baptism of a child. Even baby Joey got involved in parish life; he was enlisted to play the role of the infant Jesus in the Children’s Nativity play that Christmas! Soon after, Kate was organizing the first vacation bible school at St. John’s and teaching CCD classes.

Kate was spending a lot of time at St. John’s. Therefore, it only made sense when Kate mentioned to Sister Roberta that she might be looking for a part time teaching position in the fall, that Sister Roberta would be quick to suggest Kate give her resume to Sister Kathleen. The rest is history.

Kate’s splits her time at SJE between teaching a Second grade math class and a Third grade reading class. She describes her students as “interested, excited and quick” and says that her experience volunteering with Mercy Corps and later running the women’s shelter “really reinforced for me how fundamental and transforming education is, and how difficult life can be for people without a good education” To that end, she is doing her best to provide just that. She describes her work as a teacher at SJE as a type of mission as well, “in a different way than working with homeless people, of course. It’s a bit more ordinary but no less important.” She enjoys working in a Catholic school knowing that when you tell the kids to be good, there is “a context for it…as a culture…There is more focus on respect, holiness and doing the right thing.” She confides that she is always working on her own faith life and enjoys being in a teaching position “where I am surrounded by people of faith.” She is excited to be working with the teachers in the primary wing and is enthusiastic about the level of parental involvement within St. John’s. Likewise, one parent is excited about Kate’s interest in the children. “She left a message on our home phone just to let us know that our child was doing well… That was a great message to hear!”

I asked Kate about her teaching philosophy. She referred to the Latin word for education: educare-to draw out. She said, I think, “that being a teacher is not simply about putting information into students' heads. Teaching is really about drawing out information--what kids already know, what they observe and think, what connections they can make with what they're learning... it's also about bringing out their interest and enthusiasm for learning; making learning positive and something that they'll engage in as a life-long pursuit.”

All of us here at St. John’s are glad that Kate Christopher decided to take a new “leap” to join our St. John’s School family. With her help, we are assured that our Second and Third graders will continue to experience the genuine joy of learning.

Welcome Kate!