香蕉秀

To personalize the remarkably positive results of this holistic formation, Wyttenbach introduced Carlos G. Torres,听M.D., the event鈥檚 keynote speaker, and a primary care physician at Massachusetts听General Hospital in Chelsea. Torres, who also serves as the associate director of Diversity and Inclusion at MGH for Children, and听an instructor in Pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School, is a 2006 graduate of Nativity Jesuit Academy, a K-4-8 co-ed urban Catholic school in Milwaukee, Wis. Wyttenbach was a teacher, principal and president at NJA over an 11-year span.

Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Torres is the youngest of 10 children. His father was a migrant field worker, who moved with his family to the city on Lake Michigan when he was 10 years old, a relocation that he characterized as a 鈥渄efining moment鈥� in his life.

鈥淢y siblings had to work, but luckily, my sole job was to go to school, and I took it to heart,鈥� said Torres, referencing Nativity Jesuit Academy, which now serves more than 250 Latinx students and their families. 鈥淚t was my introduction to academic discipline; we would be in school all day, go home for dinner, and then return for study hall. It was where I learned English and fell in love with reading.鈥�

While in high school, and the only English speaker in the family, he accompanied his mother to the hospital when she suffered a stroke. She survived but the ordeal inspired him to seek a career in medicine.

After graduating from Milwaukee鈥檚 Marquette University High School, an all-male, Catholic, Jesuit, college-preparatory school, he earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010, and was admitted to Harvard Medical School, receiving his M.D. in 2014. His initial interest was psychiatry, but 鈥渉e found his calling and his people鈥� when he discovered pediatrics.

鈥淚 wanted to become a doctor to help people like my parents,鈥� he said simply, a decision that echoed Nativity鈥檚 mission statement 鈥� 鈥淓ducating Youth for a Life of Christian Leadership and Service鈥� 鈥� a phrase Torres memorized and which has become this personal declaration of purpose.听 鈥淎s a middle school student, I had no idea what it meant; however, the repercussions down the road were really big.鈥�

Wyttenbach concluded her remarks with the reminder that what each of the participants does every day in their professional lives has a transformational impact on students like Carlos, but that Catholic schools are facing particular challenges.

鈥淚 think we can all agree that we are living in an increasingly polarized America, and in an increasingly complicated world,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e know that society and schools are inextricably linked; schools reflect society, it鈥檚 a simple concept. What occurs in the real world, impacts our students and teachers in their classrooms. Catholic schools since their founding are spaces of resilience. The constant for Catholic schools has been the profound sense of community that is embodied and sustained by the people who make possible Catholic education.鈥�

Roche Center conference presenters included Molly McMahon, director of Leadership Programs; Michael O鈥機onnor, program director of Outreach and Professional Development; and John Reyes, director of Research, Program Evaluation, and Innovation. Additionally, collaborators from 16 institutions of Catholic higher education, dioceses, or Catholic networks and schools, also presented their research or best practices advancing Whole Child Education. 听

Porticus Amsterdam C.V. (limited partnership), founded in 1995, coordinates the philanthropic efforts of the Brenninkmeijer family.

Phil Gloudemans | University Communications | June 2022

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