Catholic schools focus on fulfilling potential
By Dc. Tom Cuskey
Editor
Catholic Schools Week — Jan. 28 through Feb. 3 — is a time to blow the horn about all of the good things that come from Catholic academic education. For Amy Sansone, it’s much deeper. The superintendent of Diocese of Syracuse Catholic schools spreads the good news of these institutions year-round and sees this celebration as an invitation to others to go deep as well.
“I think because we integrate faith with academics, it taps into a deeper, deeper reserve and core: What drives somebody to achieve?” she says. The personal attention that a student receives in a smaller class, where faith is the prism that all instruction and conversations pass through, adds a strong foundational layer for students and their families.
“How does what they’re studying influence vocation in terms of what they might want to pursue for work professionally, in their work, their life,” Sansone asks. While other schools might support a student in areas that they have shown aptitude for, Catholic schools offer support that transcends their entire scholastic experience. “A school that has faith at the core — and that faith is infused in every class — it informs policies, discipline decisions, restorative justice and charity,” she adds. “A Catholic school is where the focus is beautifully on academics, but also faith infused through the clubs, the academics, the policies and the relationships.”
The Seton Catholic family in Binghamton featured in the accompanying article shared that their common experience of public school versus Catholic school was very much a “what you can’t do” in the former as opposed to a “what you can do” attitude in the latter.
“It mirrors what our Lord did,” Sansone says. “He looked at his disciples and said, ‘You will now be fishers of men.’ And I see that same thing when we look at our students, that we see the capacity and the potential they have. And we want … to help grow that.”
To find out more about the Diocese of Syracuse schools, visit syracusediocese.org/schools.
