CATHOLIC SCHOOLS Faith • Knowledge • Service
Chris Bryan, who celebrates her 36th year as an educator at St. Pius X Catholic School, reviews parts of a book the class is studying with students Mireya Lopez, Camille Peters, Scarlet Pruett and Aubrianna Santos. REBECCA ESPARZA | FOR STC
Teaching with heart BY REBECCA ESPARZA
F
Correspondent
or Chris Bryan, St. Pius X Catholic School is more than just a place of employment. The school is home, and she is among family. “Our motto here is to ‘Show Jesus to others through our words and actions,’ and that is something the children do all day long,” Bryan said. “Whatever subject we are learning about, we bring Jesus into it somehow. We look at every subject through a religious lens, which makes teaching here —the best job ever.” When COVID-19 caused schools across the country to pivot online in the blink of an eye, the school needed a
third-grade teacher immediately. That’s when principal Beth Hinojosa asked Bryan if she would mind moving from first grade to third grade. “Our principal Beth called and asked if I would take over the third-grade class. She knew my focus had been early childhood education for a long time, so she was a bit surprised I didn’t hesitate to say yes. It was simple: we are family, and we do all we can to help. Besides, God seems to always put you where you are meant to be,” she said. An educator at St. Pius since 1986, Bryan had started teaching in the Ohio-Kentucky area previously, first at a Catholic school but then took a long-term substitute job
WE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST
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SPRING 2022
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