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.

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.

“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.” “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.”

BEN ZERANTE '02

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.

NORA ZERANTE '11

Community has been inspiring to alumni beyond the teaching staff. One alumna, Janelle Stubbs '04, has tried her best to make sure that the Marian Catholic community is inclusive and diverse. “I was a cheerleader at Marian,” Janelle remembered. “When I came back to visit while I was in law school, I was sort of disheartened to see that cheerleading wasn’t really flourishing as much as I thought it would be.” Janelle decided to have a positive impact on the situation; she began coaching cheerleading, first as an assistant coach, and later, as head cheerleading coach beginning in 2010.

“I have always found the school to be extraordinary,” Janelle said. “But when I was at Marian, there were only a handful of African American or brown cheerleaders.” When she came back as a coach, it was to a much more diverse student body.

“I thought it was important for people who looked like them, women of color, to be coaching. I wanted the athletes to know that once you leave Marian, these are the things that you can become, a coach or a lawyer, you can be anything you want.”

JANELLE STUBBS '04 BEA (JANKAUSKAS) FODOR '67

She particularly wanted to ensure that the community of Marian Catholic was inclusive of people of color and women. “You cannot affect any change from watching,” she explained. “The most important thing if you want to see change in your community is to take that risk and get involved.”

Getting involved in the community is something very near and dear to the heart of alumna Bea (Jankauskas '67) Fodor. Not only has Bea been instrumental in her class reunions, attempting to prove wrong the speaker who told her class at graduation that they would never be together in the same place again; Bea has also been incredibly generous and supportive of the school monetarily. Bea gives back because she knows the value of a Marian Catholic education. When asked why she feels this connection to Marian, she brings it back to community – and love. “I met my husband at Marian,” she said, “and that love connection is still prime.”

“Without the numerous Dominican Sisters, the lay faculty deserve a generous wage to teach the students at Marian,” she noted. Bea knows that Marian faculty and staff often make less annually than their counterparts at other schools —but they are dedicated to the mission of “enhancing the minds of these young people.”

Alumni like Ben, Nora, Janelle, and Bea know well that giving of their time, talent, and treasure is the best way to make the Marian Catholic community everything that it can be. It is because of their commitment to this community that the school is able to flourish. They know that the more people get involved, the better the community will be. As Janelle noted, “At the end of the day, we can talk about change, but it takes being a part of it to truly bring change.”

Are you interested in getting involved at Marian Catholic High School? To learn more about volunteer opportunities, contact the Alumni Office at alumni@marianchs.com. To learn more about giving and sponsorship opportunities, contact Colleen Peabody '05 at cpeabody@marianchs.com or Carol (Burke '81) Swanson at cswanson@marianchs.com.