Annamaria in the Big City

After a short two-and-a-half months in Spain, I returned home for Christmas in South Carolina. My time at home was restful and rejuvenating, although short.

With the start of the New Year, I made a rather big change and moved to New York City. In the span of three weeks, I moved from Spain to South Carolina to New York.

I’m a big city girl now!

Seton Teaching Fellows

What am I doing in New York City?

I am serving as a missionary with Seton Teaching Fellows in the Bronx for the next year and a half. Interested in learning more about the organization? Check them out here!

As a Seton Teaching Fellow, I work at Brilla College Prep Middle School, a public charter school with a partner Catholic after-school program called El Camino. I help with 8th-grade biology and math interventions during the school day and teach 6th-grade catechism during El Camino.

Isn’t it funny that the home-schooled girl who never even went to middle school is now teaching in one?

I am learning so much about teaching, especially classroom management. The highlights have been getting to know the kids and talking to them about their families, hobbies, likes, dislikes, etc.

More and more, I am realizing that relationship is the foundation for any type of learning or growth.

Community

Besides teaching, the other important pillar of the Seton Teaching Fellow program is community.

I live in a renovated convent with 20 other teaching fellows. It’s such an awesome environment! Everyone is passionate about their faith and striving for virtue.

Within the convent, we are divided into smaller communities of 4-5 people with whom we share groceries, do chores, eat, and pray together.  

Starting halfway through the school year was stressful, especially considering that everyone else had been here since the summer. However, the other fellows have been so welcoming, checking on me, answering my questions, offering advice, and sharing communal life with me.

Day in My Life as a Seton Teaching Fellow

• 6 am: wake up

• 7:05 am: walk to school and say a quick prayer at St. Jerome’s (the church next door to the school) before the start of the school day

• 7:30 am: morning meeting and the start of the school day

• 3:45-5:45 pm: El Camino after-school program

• 7 pm: mass (in Spanish) at St. Rita’s

• 7:30 pm: dinner and prayer with my community

• 10 pm: bedtime

The days are long but never boring (and I hate being bored).

There are ups and downs and every day has the possibility to be different. Given my lack of teaching experience, it’s easy to feel incompetent and unprepared. However, because of this, I have had to rely on the Lord, His grace, and His strength as I start something new and completely unfamiliar.

The City that Never Sleeps

Thankfully, weekends are a welcome respite to recharge and explore New York City. Here are just a few things I’ve done so far:

• Saw Lion King on Broadway

• Ate Beijing duck in China town

• Rode the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and the skyline lit up at night

• Ice skated at Rockefeller Center and in Central Park

• Saw Nabucco at the Metropolitan Opera

• Marveled at art at the MOMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Met Cloisters

• Attended the Cinderella ballet put on by the Ukrainian National Ballet

• Enjoyed a delicious bagel from Liberty Bagels

• Tried NY pizza by the slice

• Gone to mass and adoration at many beautiful and vibrant churches

Snow!

My first Sunday in the Bronx, as I was walking to mass at our parish, St. Rita’s, it began to snow. The flurries were magical to me, a southern girl who is more accustomed to sand than snow.

Last week we had a snow day, and school was canceled, so we climbed onto the roof of our building and built a snowman. You can’t do that in South Carolina or Alabama!

Please Pray for Me

Thanks for following on this extended adventure that is life with Christ!

Please pray for me as I undertake this mission and for my students that I might be able to show them the love of Christ and that they might receive it.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us!

St. Oscar Romero, pray for us!

St. Juan Diego, pray for us!

Bl. Chiara Badano*, pray for us!

*Saints Elizabeth Ann Seton, Oscar Romero, and Juan Diego are the patrons of the Seton Teaching Fellows program and Bl. Chiara is the patron for my El Camino class.