For Ms. Renee Reyes, teaching at Saint Ignatius meant returning to her roots. As a 2014 graduate, she came back to the school in 2022 to teach religion after she began her teaching career in Florida.
“I always wanted to be a teacher from when I was little,” Reyes said. “I used to teach my stuffed animals, and I thought I would be great at it. As I grew up, I had great teachers that really inspired me, especially Mr. Lord, because he really showed me that learning could be fun.” Ms. Reyes now works alongside Mr. Lord in the Religion Department.
Reyes, in her fourth year in the Religion Department, teaches freshman Introduction to Catholicism and sophomore Sacred Scripture. After she attended Frances Xavier Warde School and then Saint Ignatius, she studied at Saint Mary’s College.
In her junior year of college, she entered the Alliance for Catholic Education program at the University of Notre Dame. This program trained teachers and placed them in schools around the country. Reyes was assigned to Pensacola, Florida prior to being hired at Saint Ignatius in 2022.
For Reyes, the call to teach was always clear. “Yes, it’s fun to be on this side to hopefully help kids want to learn and be excited about learning and feel accepted in a community that made me feel really accepted,” Reyes said.
Working at her former high school had also given Reyes a unique perspective. “It’s really weird,” she said. “It’s fun now seeing some of my old teachers that are still here and how they impacted my life, and now them being my coworkers is the strangest thing in the world.” Once just a student-teacher bond, Reyes is now good friends with her former teachers.
Outside the classroom, Reyes has stayed active as a runner. She is currently training for her third marathon this October. She also enjoys reading, golfing and listening to Taylor Swift.
Reyes said her favorite part of teaching is helping students grow. “I love supporting my students,” she said. “I want to help kids learn.”
