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This article appears in the Fall 2025 issue of the ���Ĺ��� Magazine. 
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Sara Lasica joined St. Edward Catholic School as principal in 2018 after roles as an eighth-grade teacher and assistant principal at Holy Ghost School in Wood Dale.

She hadn’t considered teaching as a career, she admits, and made theology her focus during her undergraduate years at ���Ĺ���.

“I started substitute-teaching and that’s when I fell in love with teaching,” Lasica recalled. “But not just any teaching—teaching in a Catholic school. I discovered I could take my love of the faith and the knowledge I gained through my theology coursework at ���Ĺ��� and combine that with being part of the Catholic school mission.”

So, Lasica returned to ������ to study for her Master of Teaching degree. The education she received there remains a vital part of her work in education today, she said.

“That foundation in theology has allowed me to be a better Catholic school leader because I have a strong understanding of our faith and understanding scripture,” she said.

In her work, she is also able to live out ���Ĺ���’s mission in the everyday, Lasica noted.

“What we do here, what our goal is, is to create good human beings who will go out in the world, serve others and try to make the world a better place,” she said.

“We’re going to teach them all the math and reading they need to know, but we also want them to be good people who look out for the less fortunate. We want our older students to look out for our younger students and to continue on that path when they are out on their own.”

René Howard-Páez ’13 was a journalism major and resident assistant at ���Ĺ��� when he began considering Catholic, mission-driven volunteer opportunities after college. Thanks to resources from University Ministry, he landed a role in admissions work for Cristo Rey Boston Catholic High School, which ultimately put him on the path to a career in Catholic education leadership.

“I think the values instilled in me at ���Ĺ���—pursuing truth and giving back to others, Caritas and Veritas—just made it natural,” he said of the draw to Catholic-centered volunteerism after college. “I could go directly into my career, or I could give myself to a cause bigger than me to help discover what my passions might truly be. I could render myself to a mission that is more meaningful than any immediate salary or career.”

Howard-Páez says his work with Cristo Rey helped him discover a love for working with high school students and their families. This brought him to Wisconsin, where he served as founding director of admissions at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Milwaukee and director of diversity and inclusion at Marquette University High School. In 2024, Howard-Páez was named president of St. Joan Antida High School in Milwaukee, an all-girls Catholic school serving just over 200 students, a majority of whom are students of color.

“For anyone in education, the mission of ���Ĺ��� comes naturally because you want students to pursue truth,” Howard-Páez said. “That’s the whole goal of education: to provide students with the tools to ask questions, form their own opinions and leave a place better than they found it—whether it’s their community or their country.”

As a student studying psychology with an intent to teach, Danielle Coduti ’12 recalls spending many hours in ���Ĺ���’s Rebecca Crown Library, taking time to think, study and reflect.

But there was another spot that held a special place for her as well.

“���Ĺ��� had [Rosary Chapel] and Sunday night Mass, which I loved to go to,” she said.

Today, Coduti is in her first year as principal of St. Luke Catholic School in River Forest, just blocks from ���Ĺ���. It’s a school she joined in 2014 as a fifth-grade teacher before moving to middle school English/language arts and then the role of assistant principal.

Having attended Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Coduti’s educational foundation was built by ���Ĺ��� Catholic values, so teaching in a Catholic school made sense, she says.

“I was really familiar with what that community looks like,” she noted. “I knew any decision I’d make would be easier because I could bring faith into it, no matter who I’m talking to. It’s always a matter of making moral choices, what’s good for the children.” 

Coduti remains connected to ���Ĺ��� through a partnership that allows student teachers to be placed in classrooms at St. Luke’s.

“I’m thankful to ���Ĺ���—I feel like they are always right next door,” she said. “And they are a dependable partner whenever we need them.”

As director of the Signum Fidei program at Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, Kent Doyle ’02, MSEd ’06, MAEd ’19 oversees efforts to help students improve their skills in reading, writing, math and other subjects if they are below grade level in these areas.

Doyle shares a love of Catholic education with his wife, Michelle Blaszak Doyle ’02, MSEd ’06, MAEd ’19.

The couple, who met in Rebecca Crown Library during first-year orientation, grew up attending Catholic schools and ultimately chose teaching in them as their career vocations, with Michelle teaching kindergarten at St. Celestine in Elmwood Park, a placement school for DU student teachers. Both are also adjunct instructors in ���Ĺ���’s School of Education.

“As a teacher, I try to live out ���Ĺ���’s values both in and out of the classroom,” Michelle Doyle added. “Teaching is not my job; it is my vocation. I believe that if I teach my students to be compassionate and loving to one another, then I am called to do the same.”

Kent Doyle also credits ���Ĺ���’s professors and their authentic desire to see students succeed with helping him become the educator and leader he is today, he said.

“That support is something we saw and we experienced,” Doyle noted. “We always wanted to follow in the footsteps of those teachers who taught us at ���Ĺ���.”

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