• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Charles Joseph “Jody” Harris Jr., a 1979 Mount St. Joseph High School graduate who was part of two baseball championship teams, has spent the last 37 years teaching social studies at his alma mater. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Teachers working at alma maters make it their mission to give back

February 4, 2022
By Gerry Jackson
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Feature, Local News, News, Schools

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Jody Harris has been teaching at his alma mater, Mount St. Joseph High School, for more than 37 years, and throughout that time he has stuck to a simple philosophy he learned at the West Baltimore school.

“As a teacher,’’ Harris said, “your body of work is real bodies.”

Harris, a 1979 graduate and Mount St. Joe athletics hall of fame baseball and football player, said the philosophy spread to him by the teaching of the Xaverian Brothers was the driving force behind his nearly four-decade career after graduating from Washington and Lee with a political science degree.

Charles Joseph “Jody” Harris Jr., a 1979 Mount St. Joseph High School graduate, is one of 30 alumni teaching at the West Baltimore school. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

“There’s no question you need to buy into the Xaverian Brothers’ mission,” said Harris, one of 30 Mount St. Joseph graduates working at the school. “When I went to school there, at least half the faculty was brothers. I feel like I’m passing on that mission, their dedication and the core idea of what it means to be a Christian gentleman.”

Harris is one of hundreds of teachers in the Archdiocese of Baltimore who feel the calling to return and pass on the values instilled in them through Catholic education.

“I feel blessed to do something that I love and to be a part of something that’s bigger than me,” he said.

Sam Bianco, a 2001 graduate, has been teaching at Mount St. Joseph for 17 years, serving the past three as an assistant principal and the director of student life. He also sees his return to his alma mater as a calling.

“I think the mission is something we all have in common,” Bianco said of Catholic school alumni who eschew more lucrative professions to give back to their schools. “If you ask the bulk of the teachers, they’ll tell you it’s the relationships that you built here; you want to be a part of that again and give back to others.”

Bianco said working at and attending Mount St. Joseph is a profound experience.

“It just feels like home,’’ said Bianco, who attended St. Agnes School in Catonsville and The Catholic University of America in Washington. “I’ve spent my entire life in Catholic schools and I can tell you that this place has a sense of authenticity that is just something different.

“We have a phrase at St. Joe: enduring personal relationships. You see it on display every day in the way the teachers go the extra mile that transcends what that experience is all about. There’s a sense of community and caring about one another.”

Michael Stromberg is the new kid on the block when it comes to alumni teaching at Mount St. Joseph, but the 2017 graduate already has had many of the same experiences as Harris and Bianco in just one semester.

Bridget Foley, an alumnae of St. Ursula School and the former Institute of Notre Dame, now teaches sixth and eighth grade at the school in which she graduated from in 2005. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

“I’m blessed to be part of such a great community,” said Stromberg, who teaches theology and is a campus minister. “Being back at St. Joe has shown me that Catholic schools aren’t just places we spend money to attend. They are special places that will be with us the rest of our lives. Mount St. Joe wasn’t just a school that I went to five days a week. It was so much more.”

Stromberg, who was class president and student body president while at Mount St. Joseph, said he got the “call” to return to his alma mater while finishing homework at Catholic University in May. He’s glad he answered it after a bit of hesitation.

“It’s been an adjustment, especially learning to call my fellow teachers by their first names instead of their last names like I did when I was a student,” Stromberg said. “I was hesitant at first because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put musical theater aside. But I’m glad I made the decision because it’s been so fulfilling. It’s a great feeling when I’m so exhausted at the end of a workday because I know I’ve been giving back to a community that’s been so much a part of my life.”

Terry Ferro, a life-long parishioner of St. Mark Church in Catonsville, graduated from the parish school, Notre Dame Prep and Loyola University Maryland, taught sixth and eighth grade for 10 years and is now in her first year as vice principal at her grade school alma mater. (Kevin J. Parks/CR Staff)

Two alma maters have been a part of Bridget (Bindel) Foley’s working life. The 2009 graduate of Institute of Notre Dame returned to her alma mater as director of admissions and a social studies teacher and has since transitioned to teaching at St. Ursula School in Parkville.

“From the time I got my teaching degree, I always knew I wanted to be in Catholic schools,” Foley said. “There’s that comfort level and sense of community.”

Foley said she felt like she was going home when she landed a job at IND right out of college and the transition to St. Ursula eased the disappointment of IND’s closing in 2019.

“It was great to have teachers at St. Ursula who taught me (now) serve as my mentors,” she said. “It just showed how important the friendships and connections you make in Catholic schools are.”

Terry (Sovero) Ferro, assistant principal at St. Mark School in Catonsville, said the Christ-centered learning environment is what drew her back to her alma mater, where she has worked for 13 years as a teacher and now an administrator.

“The teaching methods might have changed some, but it’s the same Christ-centered environment,” said the 1981 St. Mark’s graduate. “My mother went here and I sent my kids here. It’s a big part of my life, and it’s what I want to be a part of.”

Ferro said it has been a great joy to teach many of her peers’ kids, and she’s driven by a call to give back.

“I was very prepared for high school when I left here, having that St. Mark’s foundation,” she said. “And that’s what I strive to give back.”

Email Gerry Jackson at gjackson@catholicreview.org

Read More Schools News

Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options

When it comes to serving students with disabilities, how are Catholic schools doing?

School club gives students chance to benefit veterans, fosters Gospel value of serving others

school choice

ANALYSIS: ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ gives school-choice advocates partial victory with more to do

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

2025 Stellar graduates

Copyright © 2022 Catholic Review Media

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Gerry Jackson

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary

  • Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

  • Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

  • A butterfly lands on a flowering bush with purple blossoms A Miracle for a Baby in Rhode Island (and for all of us)

| Latest Local News |

Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

Third annual gun buyback scheduled for Aug. 9

Driver arrested after crashing into entrance of Esperanza Center

Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

| Latest World News |

Cardinal Tomasi: Religious communities can play key roles in nuclear disarmament

Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man

Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says

New York archdiocese sees hundreds of responses to ‘Called By Name’ program

Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Cardinal Tomasi: Religious communities can play key roles in nuclear disarmament
  • Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man
  • Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says
  • New York archdiocese sees hundreds of responses to ‘Called By Name’ program
  • Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options
  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary
  • LA archbishop, joined by business leaders, starts fund to help families affected by ICE raids
  • FBI surveilled SSPX priest amid probe of suspected neo-Nazi’s plans for violence
  • Poland’s ‘living memorial’ to St. John Paul II marks 25 years of transforming lives

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en