MEET THE SCHOOL’S ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL OF CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
Deacon Edward Watson is in his third year at Donahue Academy as its Assistant Principal of Curriculum and Instruction. He was ordained to the Permanent Diaconate by Bishop Frank J. Dewane on May 31. “There is a joy here. Christ really is the center of the school,” declares Deacon Watson.
He continues: “from daily Mass, to access to Confession and Adoration, the Marian processions that we do, and the faith life of the families, of the students, of the teachers… it permeates everything.” That is the Donahue difference, and it resonates throughout the building. It is also the calling that brought Deacon Watson and his family to Ave Maria in July 2023 – Catholic, classical education; truth, goodness, and beauty.
“By pursuing these three things we are pursuing aspects of God in reality,” says Deacon Watson, who has four children enrolled at the school. “When my children are in their math class, they’re absolutely understanding number relationships, fractions, equations and everything else. But they’re also being purposefully shown the ways in which mathematics is the ordered manner in which God put together the universe. The study of science – right there, God left His fingerprints in the way that cells work, in the way that planets move in space and time. When they go into art class and music class, they’re exposed to beautiful pieces by master artists and composers and it draws them on to something more than the mundane. It elevates them in a way that other things just don’t. And it would be great if that were in one class, but we benefit from it being in all the classes,” he explains.
“When you put first things first, we get first things and second things along with it. If you order your day around the Mass, if that’s your priority, everything else is going to fall into place,” he says. The Donahue Academy community is grateful to count on a team of administrators, faculty, and staff who, like Deacon Watson, understand and are ready to live by first things each and every day and model this commitment to students.
Deacon Watson’s transformation from teacher to preacher happens daily. “I try to be firm but fair with things. I have clear expectations of the students, but still express interest in their lives and the things that they like,” he shares. Thanks, Deacon!
