Dear families,

Today’s message includes a letter from Mrs. Teresa Roberts announcing her retirement after teaching for fourteen years at Saint John School. From Language Arts to Faith in Action, Mrs. Roberts has had a tremendous effect on our students throughout the years. Through her work with our journalism students, she has been a guiding force in the development of our award-winning Eagle Pride Publisher newspaper. She has also taught Physical Education and Spanish during her time at Saint John’s. Her faith, passion, integrity, and innovative spirit will be sorely missed. While it may be said that no one is truly irreplaceable, trust me when I say that there will never be another teacher quite like Mrs. Roberts.

Peace and blessings,

Dan

“Where two or three are gathered in My name, love will be found– life will abound. By name we are called, from water we are sent, to become the eyes and hands of Christ.” 

This excerpt from Tom Kendzia’s popular hymn reminds me of what we aim to be about here at Saint John School. May Crowning was such a perfect example of the abundant grace and blessings that God has showered upon us. The service was luminous in every way: so uplifting and so easy to feel the presence of God and our Blessed Mother in the actions, words, and demeanor of our students. Led prayerfully by four eighth graders who embody the qualities of Mary, the community witnessed gratitude pouring forth in an eloquent stream of love that enveloped all present, moving many to tears. This school community, at its best, is a warm hearth and a generous, caring family striving to follow Jesus in unconditionally loving all in a spirit of faith, hope, peace, and justice. What a gift to come to school each day for the past 14 years and join my beloved colleagues in sharing our faith and spreading God’s love to everyone we encounter!

So, as I retire from my teaching career in June, I want to express my infinite thanks for all your support. Somehow, I was called to this profession late in life, and it has been a true joy to carry it out at a Catholic school, having worked in Church-related jobs almost my entire life, either as an employee or volunteer. I have greatly enjoyed taking part in all the opportunities I have been given here to teach many hundreds of students, to get to know so many wonderful families, and to develop several programs. Among my biggest passions in life are my faith, athletic endeavors, reading, and writing—and after eight years of English/language arts and religion as a homeroom teacher in sixth and seventh grades, I ended up teaching Faith in Action, journalism, and health/physical education (not to mention several years of Spanish!). Who could ask for more?!! Yet the time to leave classroom teaching is while one is still energetic and enthusiastic about the magnificent privilege and blessing it is to spend one’s days helping kids grow into the persons God created them to be (which we all know is a lifelong project) – people who, in the words of St. Catherine of Siena, are already “setting the world ablaze” with their goodness. They have certainly fired up my world, and I will miss them all so much.

The magnitude of gratitude I feel for being a part of this wonderful school community—from the students and their families to administration and staff — is simply beyond words. When I left my very first newspaper job in my twenties, I wrote an ad telling the citizens I served in Tuolumne County that I felt I had been blessed with a little slice of heaven on Earth. And now, almost 40 years later, I surely could say the same thing about our dear Saint John School where, as we gather daily in Christ’s name, so much love is found, so much life abounds. And, thankfully, I won’t be completely cut off from the community since I am not moving away. In fact, I fully intend to become even more active in parish/Church-related activities and will occasionally be helping around school, so I am pretty sure I will still be seeing (and hope to stay in touch with) many of you. I also want to thank publicly my family, who all made sacrifices so that I could devote more time to Saint John’s. My husband, a journalism/English teacher at San Dieguito Academy, took over almost every household chore: shopping, cooking, laundry, yard work. So, my plan for retirement is to not only step it up around the house, but also to open myself wide to the call of the Holy Spirit, who led me to Saint John’s in the first place and has already inspired a lengthy list of ideas for future endeavors. Please know that, wherever I go, I will take all of you with me in my heart and am so very much the richer for that. I will never be far.

With thanks, blessings, and love,

Teresa Roberts