ANSWERING THE CALL:
Alumni Share Their Time, Talent, and Treasure By Brendan Diamond
Community. It is an essential quality that makes Marian Catholic High School the superior institution we all know. It is the community that unites us, that brings us together, that makes us a family in Christ. And it’s what has inspired several Marian Catholic alumni to give of their time, talent, and treasure to make the school a better place.
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“ Marian is a really unique place. What I really value most from interacting with the students is the diversity and the things that we’re able to do as a school, whether that’s trips or lab experiences or field work.”
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That sense of community had a profound impact on Ben’s sister Nora as well. “When I started teaching, it was because of the people in the building,” she recalled. “I felt a calling to instill in young people that same sense of community that I felt as a student here.” Nora has spent time in several areas of the school, not only as an English teacher, but as an admissions assistant in her first year, and later, as head varsity softball coach. It has only deepened her love of her alma mater. Nora is able to have a strong impact on the school by sharing her talent with her students and players, and her feelings about the school are palpable.
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“ Marian Catholic means so much to me and was transformative in my life. The best part for me as a teacher and coach, is the opportunity to pass the torch to the next generation.”
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Community was important to siblings Ben Zerante '02 and Nora Zerante '11, who both came back to their alma mater to teach. Ben, a science teacher and moderator of the National Honor Society, cherished the opportunity to continue to learn from the teachers who had given him so much. “I hope to have an impact on students the way that my teachers did when I was at Marian Catholic,” he said. This path was anything but preordained for Ben. “I never thought I’d get into teaching,” he explained. “I did know that I wanted to do some kind of service, because I had such a positive experience in Service Club with Sr. Dorothy Marie.” Ben eventually found his calling through Teach for America, which showed him a path to service that he hadn’t considered before. When a teaching job at Marian Catholic came up, he leaped at the opportunity.
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