marianist.com/donate • 17 Luis experienced the same welcoming spirit when he arrived as a freshman at St. Mary’s University, a Marianist university in San Antonio. “For me, the St. Mary’s experience was transformative,” Luis says. “The Marianists were so welcoming. They were always like, ‘come over for burgers, come over for Mass.’ The invitation was so sincere and so persistent. I loved it! I was a regular at the brothers’ community.” Luis earned a degree in theology and was accepted into the Lalanne Program at University of Dayton. Lalanne is a post- graduate service and teaching program named after Father Jean Baptiste Lalanne, one of the original seven Marianists. “Entering the Lalanne Program was a very intentional decision on my part; I wanted to be at a Marianist university,” Luis says. Luis earned a master’s degree in education from UD while serving for three years at Villa Angela-St. Joseph, a Marianist-sponsored high school in Cleveland, where he was a teacher, campus minister, coach and LIFE moderator. But a touch of homesickness called him back to Texas, and he was able to transfer to Central Catholic, a Marianist high school in San Antonio. “The mission of Marianist education had become meaningful to me, even at that early stage of my career. I knew I wanted to be in a Marianist school.” After two years at Central Catholic, Luis chose to explore whether his love of the Marianist charism included a call to religious life. He spent a year in the aspirancy (pre-novitiate) program in Cincinnati, living in a Marianist community while teaching at Marianist-sponsored Purcell Marian High School. While he didn’t continue in religious formation, Luis continued on a Marianist path, returning to San Antonio and to Central Catholic, where he taught until 2014. Switching Chaminades Unlike Mallory and Luis, Jason Kertz didn’t have a Marianist background when he began serving as a middle-school counselor at Chaminade College Preparatory in St. Louis. He had attended a Jesuit high school and a Jesuit university. He wasn’t at Chaminade long, however, before he began to appreciate the school’s Marianist culture. “I came to love the family spirit,” Jason says. “At Chaminade, it wasn’t like coming to work. It was more like coming into a community of people who were eager to develop young men. That’s something I really cherished,” he says. Once he attended the Marianist Teaching as Ministry (TAM) summer formation program, he came to under- stand that the culture of Chaminade in St. Louis was emblematic of a bigger identity. “Talking with other teachers at TAM, it became clear to me that this is a real thing at our schools — what we call the Marianist spirit.” Jason served at Chaminade for six years as a counselor and coach and eventually faced a tough decision. His girlfriend had moved to Los Angeles for her career, and the pair juggled a long-distance relationship for a year. Happily, the Marianist school network facilitated a mutually beneficial resolution. His principal in St. Louis, Todd Guidry, recom- mended Jason to his colleague Mike Valentine, the middle-school principal at the other Chaminade College Preparatory, in Los Angeles. Following a series of interviews and visits, Jason was able to switch Chaminades. “It was crazy,” Jason laughs. “I finished leading an enrichment camp at Chaminade St. Louis one afternoon in July 2017, got on a plane to LA, and began orientation at my new Chaminade the next morning.” St. Louis and Los Angeles may be worlds apart in many ways, but Jason finds commonalities at the schools named for the Marianist founder. Luis Guerra, dean of students at Chaminade College Preparatory in Los Angeles, has enjoyed working at four Marianist schools. PHOTO: MATT DAYKA