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SLUH Announces First Recipients of Sacred Heart Award
from SLUH Magazine
by SLUH
St. Louis University High honored the first two recipients of the Sacred Heart Award – John Vatterott and Dr. Mary Lee McConaghy – at the Mass of the Holy Spirit in the Si Commons on August 31, 2021. This new award recognizes women and men who are not alumni of the school for their exceptional support and collaborative spirit. "John Vatterott and Dr. Mary Lee McConaghy represent the best of the many women and men who support our mission," says SLUH President Alan Carruthers. "We proudly recognize them for their remarkable contributions and exemplary partnerships in collaborating to form young men of competence, conscience, courage and compassion."
JOHN VATTEROTT
John Vatterott studied at Campion High School, a Jesuit school in Wisconsin that has since closed. He was born to a large Catholic family as one of 17 children.
His career began as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the Missouri Department of Education. It was during his tenure in this position that he recognized a need for stronger trade schools. In response to this community need, he co-founded Vatterott College in 1969 and continued leading the school until 2003.
Vatterott has been an important member of the SLUH community for many decades, and his commitment to the school’s mission continues to this day. A past SLUH parent (Tim ‘91) and former member of the Board of Trustees, he and his wife Joan made the largest charitable gift to SLUH in the school’s storied history several years ago.
Beyond SLUH, Vatterott helped to found Loyola Academy, and launched Access Academies, a network of support for students in middle schools across the metro area. He has served on numerous boards and supported a wide range of Jesuit ministries and nonprofits on both sides of the Mississippi River, throughout the country, and internationally. He is a model philanthropist in his commitment to collaboration, his passion for the mission of the Church, and his overwhelming love for the Jesuits and SLUH.
MARY LEE McCONAGHY, PH.D.
The study of Latin, mostly under the instruction of Jesuit priests, was a long tradition at SLUH. In 1979, however, Mary Lee McConaghy, Ph.D., put a new face on an ancient language. “Magistra” (meaning “teacher” in Latin), as generations of students and even some colleagues have affectionately called her, was one of only three female teachers at SLUH her first year – and the only one the following year.
Dr. McConaghy taught freshmen and juniors for 30 years, moderated the Latin Club and coached many successful teams in national Latin competitions. She brought Classical Greek back to the SLUH curriculum in 1991. In 2009, she retired from fulltime teaching but continued teaching Greek – and does so to this day.
In addition to building a culture of scholarship, achievement and excellence in the Classics, she developed a rich culture of cocurricular investment in the subject. Her "Saturnalia" event was legendary and superlative student performance in various contests was well known.
Long before the terminology of "Social and Emotional Learning" became popular, Dr. McConaghy used joy, security, energy, surprise, passion and love to inspire and motivate her students. And, well before teachers were being urged away from lecture and a teacher-centered classroom into various modes of learning, she was using art, performance, costume and contests to enrich the learning experience and encourage mastery.
Revered by alumni, students and colleagues, Dr. McConaghy displays unbridled enthusiasm for the Classics and an infectious passion for teaching. An annual SLUH award established in her name honors a senior who, like her, shows the “invaluable qualities of integrity, dedication and enthusiasm.”
A pillar and pioneer of women in education and formation for more than 40 years at SLUH, Dr. McConaghy personifies the Jesuit affirmation of study – especially in Arts and Letters – for its own sake. That affirmation of the "worldliness" of Humanities and the Classics, even apart from sacred texts and explicitly religious content, powerfully reaffirms "finding God in all things."
ABOUT THE AWARD
St. Louis University High established the Sacred Heart Award in 2021 to recognize the remarkable contributions and exemplary partnerships that the school enjoys with individuals who did not graduate from the school.
When the Society of Jesus first came to the St. Louis region in the early 1800s, they were assisted in important ways by the Religious of the Society of the Sacred Heart, most notably by a special friendship with St. Rose Philippine Duchesne. This award pays homage to that early friendship and experience of collaboration between the Jesuits and the Society of the Sacred Heart, which was foundational for the Jesuit frontier mission.
The Sacred Heart Award builds on this centuries-old tradition of women and men who are not alumni generously befriending SLUH and sharing a vision for the good that can be accomplished through collaboration.
