JAMAICA — Jill Anzalone, a rising freshman at St. John’s University, has long harbored a desire to become a Catholic school teacher.
“I’ve always loved working with kids and being around kids,” Anzalone said a few days before her graduation from St. Francis Preparatory School on May 31.
However, given the high cost of a college education, Anzalone wasn’t sure how to make her dream come true. Now, she is getting her chance thanks to a brand-new partnership between the Office of the Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Brooklyn and St. John’s University.
The partnership, aimed at recruiting and training new elementary school teachers for the diocese, is providing Anzalone with a $10,000 scholarship ($2,500 per year over four years) to help cover her costs at St. John’s.
In exchange, Anzalone has agreed to teach in a Catholic elementary school in the diocese for at least four years after she graduates.
She said the scholarship program is a major boost.
“I thought it was the best opportunity because it just works out for a plan that I want to pursue,” she explained.
Anzalone, who has also received other scholarships from St. John’s, said she wasn’t sure exactly how she would have paid for college without the financial assistance.
“It would obviously be hard,” she acknowledged. “But St John’s made it a lot easier.”
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The partnership, which will operate through St. John’s Institute for Catholic Schools, will provide $10,000 scholarships to 10 students a year, according to James Wolfinger, dean of St. John’s School of Education.
For its part, the diocese will prepare the students for their teaching careers by offering them student-teaching opportunities and a chance at full employment upon graduation. They will still have to interview for teaching positions in one of the 64 Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens, but their resumes will be on top of the pile, Wolfinger said.
“We want to prepare more great teachers. Not just great teachers, but great Catholic school teachers,” Wolfinger explained. “We’ve seen this as a way to recruit more students from schools who want to teach in Catholic schools, and at the same time, be a good employment pipeline for them.”
Bishop Robert Brennan said the scholarship “will play a critical role in creating the next generation of Catholic school teachers in Brooklyn and Queens.”
As a proud graduate of St. John’s and now as the Bishop of Brooklyn, I am grateful for this partnership of faith and academics that recognizes the value and importance of a Catholic education,” Bishop Brennan said. “This opportunity is a win-win for our future teachers and students.”
To date, five students, including Anzalone, have expressed a strong interest in the scholarship program, Wolfinger said.
Joan McMaster, deputy superintendent of schools for the diocese, called the partnership “a win-win situation for the university, for the students and for our schools.”
One thing the scholarship program will do is help alleviate a teacher shortage, McMaster predicted.
“It’s made it difficult for everyone to find qualified teachers,” she explained.
“We’ve been very fortunate in our schools finding qualified teachers because teachers, particularly, might want to teach in a Catholic school,” McMaster added. “But [the shortage] does impact us, because it makes the recruiting pool that much smaller, and now you have everyone recruiting out of that much smaller pool.”
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However, the main goal is to provide a leg-up to students who want to become Catholic school teachers, she said.
“This will give the opportunity to students who are answering that call to be a Catholic school educator,” she noted. “It’s a calling to teach at a Catholic school, and what I think really separates us out from all other schools is that infusion of our Catholic values.”
In addition to providing assistance to undergrads, the program will also help graduate students, Wolfinger explained. Students who complete the program and go on to teach in the diocese can return to St John’s to pursue a master’s degree at a 40% discount.
Not only that, but a donor has agreed to fund an additional 30% toward the costs, meaning that a graduate student stands to receive as much as a 70% reduction, Wolfinger added.
For Anzalone, the program is a dream come true. She fell in love with the idea of teaching while working at a summer camp that St. Francis Prep sponsored.
“I wanted to do something with kids, either nursing or teaching,” she said. “I really loved being in charge and like leading others, so I thought teaching would be the best for me.”
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